• • 



» » f f f t ♦ f f t ♦ f 




Ij^" 



TffiXT HDDK 



fOUNQVV^^ 



'jmrnm 



'm^m' 




FOR USE OF 

AMD — 




• • 



« • 



'm> 




^Library of Congress.^| 




Chap c^ j § 

Shelf ^ M 




^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.|^i 



NEWFOUNDLAND 




kt^Vvf^'l fV' 



^fv*/- 



-1 r L 






•Il!r:^^ 




±z 




(7}^ _J.^ i 



TEXT-BOOK 



NEWFOUNDLAND HISTORY, 



USE or SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. 



BY y 
THE REV. M. HARVEY, 

u 
Author of "Newfoundland — the Oldest British Colony;" *' Lectures, 
Literary and Biographical;^' Articles, "Newfoundland" and 
"Labrador," in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, etc. 



it!) Hap ant Illugtraticng. 



BOSTON : 
DOYLE AND WHITTLE, PUBLISHERS. 

18 8 5. 






27127 




CHURXHILL* 
BOSTOiS." 




TO TEACHERS. 



The author of this little work has aimed at 
narrating the leading events in the history of 
Newfoundland in such clear and simple language 
as may attract the attention of the young, and at 
the same time prove interesting to those of ma- 
turer years. While unecessary details have been 
avoided, no event of importance has been passed 
over. 

The author would respectfully but earnestly point 
out to teachers who may use this volume, the great 
importance of connecting the geography of the nar- 
rative with the history, in order to fix the knowledge 
acquired permanently in the memory, and render it 
useful. The situation of every place mentioned in 
the history should be pointed out by the pupils on 
the map, and its position with reference to other 
places should be carefully learned. The place being 
thus associated with the event in the minds of the 
learners, both are more clearly realized and more 
deeply impressed on the memory. To aid teachers, 
and expedite their work, a series of questions on the 



TO TEACHERS. 



history and on the geography of the places men- 
tioned has been appended to each chapter. 

A summary of the chronology of each period is 
also given, in which the dates of the most impor- 
tant events and of the more prominent personages 
are noted. This helps to give the pupil a con- 
nected view of history as a whole, and enables 
him to obtain some idea of contemporary events in 
other countries, and thus to link the records of 
his own land with those of the rest of the world. 
Thus the aids of geography and chronology im- 
part a deeper interest to historical studies, and 
render their results more satisfactory and perma- 
nent. 



OOl^TENTS. 



Page 
CHAPTEE I. 
First Discoveries . 9 

CHAPTER II. 
The Eed Indians, or Aboriginal Inhabitants of New- 
foundland 25 

CHAPTER HI. 
Exploration and Settlement of America .... 35 

CHAPTER IV. 
England takes Possession of Newfoundland . . .42 

CHAPTER V. 
The Fisheries 54 

CHAPTER VI. 
Whitbourne's Commission .61 

CHAPTER VH. 
Contemporary Events 68 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The French in Newfoundland 74 

• CHAPTER IX. 
Condition of the Early Settlers 79 

CHAPTER X. 
Renewed Efforts of the French to Conquer Newfound- 
land 90 

CHAPTER XL 
"The Seven Years' War" 98 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 
CHAPTER XII. 
Palliser's Act . 108 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Commercial Disasters 124 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Important Events 149 

CHAPTER XV. 
Conclusion . 164 

Appendix . . . . . .175 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Page 

City of St. John's Frontispiece 

Columbus 13 

Sebastian Cabot 15 

Amerigo Vespucci 17 

Wigwam Point . . 31 

Jacques Cartier . . 45 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert 47 

Sir Walter Raleigh 49 

Sir Francis Drake 55 

Lord Baltimore 63 

Cecil, Second Lord Baltimore « . . .65 

Placentia facing page 74 

Bett's Cove Harbour facing page 151 

Government House, St. John's 157 

Chui'ch of England Cathedral, St. John's 165 

Roman Catholic Cathedral, St. John's 167 

Cochrane-street Methodist Church, St. John's .... 169 
St. Andrew's Pi-esbyterian Church, St. John's . . . .171 
Roman Catholic Cathedral, Harbour Grace 173 



INTEODUOTION. 



At first sight it might be supposed that there was little worthy 
of attention in the history of Newfoundland. The genera,! im- 
pression about it, till lately, has been that it is merely a barren, 
fog-enveloped island, where a few thousand fishermen secure a 
precarious existence by catching and curing the fish which abound 
in its waters. " What," it might be asked, " can there be worth 
knowing regarding their achievements? The tale must be barren 
and uninteresting." 

I submit that this is a great mistake. The story of this colony 
connects itself with the history of both England and America, and 
presents points of the deepest interest. The first North American 
land which was discovered was the shores of this island. In the 
New World England's flag first floated here. Her first attempt 
at colonization was made here. Her first success in maritime 
discovery was won here. In prosecuting the fisheries of New- 
foundland English sailors first learned how to rule the waves. 
The wealth derived from these fisheries added largely to Eng- 
land's greatness, and for many years these fisheries were the best 
nursery for her seamen. Great and heroic men took part in the 
early colonization of the island, and the glory which their names 
shed on its history should never be forgotten. 

In later times the history of the island connected itself closely 
with that of the other British colonies of North America, and it 
had a share in the great conflicts which decided their destiny. 
On its shores a race of hardy, industrious men created a home for 
themselves, in spite of difficulties, opposition, and oppression. 
The battle of freedom was fought and won here by determined, 
much-enduring men, though it was a bloodless conflict. Through 
toils and suff^erings of no ordinary severity the colony won its 
way to self-government, and the attainment of its constitutional 
rights and liberties. 

The story of this ancient colony is, therefore, neither unim- 



8 INTRODUCTION. 



portant nor uninstructive. To its own people, in particular, a 
knowledge of the struggles and vicissitudes through which it has 
passed cannot fail to be of deep interest and importance. 

This is especially true regarding the young, on whom the 
hopes of its future largely depend. They should be early fa- 
miliarized with the history of their own country. Before they 
can love their country intelligently, and cherish that patriotic 
feeling which will lift them above mere party or selfish con- 
siderations, and enable them to feel an honest pride in their 
island-home, and to labour for its advancement, they must ac- 
quaint themselves with its history. 

In this little volume I have endeavoured to present a brief his- 
torical sketch of Newfoundland, which may interest and inform 
the minds of the young, and be adapted for use in schools and 
academies ; while it may also serve to impart a knowledge of the 
country's past to those of mature years who have not time for the 
study of larger works on the subject. No school history of New- 
foundland has yet been published. It will be a source of gratifi- 
cation to me if I have succeeded in meeting a want which has 
long been felt, by supplying a history which teachers can use 
with advantage. 

M. HARVEY. 
St. John's, Newfoundland, , 1885. 



HISTORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 



CHAPTER I. 

FROM lOOl TO 1498. 

FIRST DISCOVERERS. 

THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN. DISCOVERY OF THE 

NEW WORLD. — JOHN CABOT AND HIS SON SEBASTIAN. 

1, A GLANCE at a map of North America shows us a 
large island, somewhat triangular in shape, lying right 
across the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to 
which it affords access at its northern and southern ex- 
tremities. This is the island of Newfoundland. It 
occupies an important position, being near the mainland 
of America, while its most eastern projection is but 1,640 
miles from the western coast of Ireland. Its south-west- 
ern extremity is within fifty miles of the Island of Cape 
Breton, and its northern point approaches within ten 
miles of the coast of Labrador. It thus forms, as it 
were, a stepping-stone between the Old World and the 
New. In regard to magnitude, it ranks tenth among the 
islands of the globe, its greatest length being 317 miles, 
its greatest breadth 316 miles, and its area 42,000 square 
miles. It is thus one-sixth larger than Ireland, and 
equal in area to two-thirds that of England and Wales. 
Its coast-line is 2,000 miles in extent. 

2. It is curious to find that five hundred years before 
the days of Columbus and Cabot, the Northmen, or 



10 FIRST DISCOVERERS. [1001- 

Norsemen, as the inhabitants of Norway and Sweden 
were then called, had discovered Newfoundland, and 
visited and even colonized portions of the neighbouring 
mainland of America. These Northmen were, in the 
tenth and eleventh centuries, the greatest mariners of 
their time, and, like their descendants, the Norwegians, 
Swedes, and Danes, had a wonderful love for the sea 
and for maritime adventures. In their frail barks they 
pushed out into the northern seas, and discovered and 
colonized Iceland, about the year 870. Fifty or a hun- 
dred years afterwards they planted colonies on both the 
eastern and western shores of Greenland. It is not 
wonderful that, being so near the western coast of Davis 
Strait, they should have crossed over from Greenland 
in their numerous voyages ; and, once there, it was an 
easy matter to trace the coast to Labrador, Newfound- 
land, and farther southward. 

3. Thus there is nothing at all improbable in the story 
told in the Norse books, called Sagas, regarding the 
visits of these bold sailors to the coast of North America. 
The story is told in this way : About the year 1001, one 
of their ships, when on a voyage from Iceland to Green- 
land, was driven away far to the south-west by a tem- 
pest, and at length came in sight of a richly-wooded, 
level country. The wind abated, and the sailors shaped 
their course for Greenland. The news of their great 
discovery fired the heart of Leif, son of Eric the Red, 
who had founded the Greenland colony. He at once 
resolved to set out and explore the new country, of 
which he had received such a glowing account. He was 
accompanied on this voyage b}' Bjorn. 

4. The bold adventurers first reached a rocky island, 
to which they gave the name of Helluland, or the land 
of naked rocks. This must have been Newfoundland, 



1498.] FIRST DISCOVERERS. 11 

which lay chrectly in their course. Soon after, they 
came in sight of a low country, thickly wooded, which 
they called, in consequence, Markland. Probably this 
was Nova Scotia. After a few days they arrived at a 
place where they found the wild vines growing, and 
called it Vinland. Here they spent the winter. Some 
of the inhabitants of the country came to them in leather 
boats, and they traded with them for furs. The Norse 
legends call these people Skraelings. Probably the}^ 
were Esquimaux (pronounced Es-ki-mo), as they are 
described as being of dwarfish stature and swarthy com- 
plexion. It is believed that Vinland was the northern 
part of Rhode Island, where the fox-grape still grows 
wild. Besides, the story mentions that, at that place, 
the sun remained nine hours above the horizon, on the 
shortest da3^ This would indicate the latitude of Rhode 
Island. The Norsemen returned to Greenland in the 
spring, and spread enthusiastic accounts of their new 
dwelling-place, praising the climate and soil, the grapes 
and salmon. The consequence was that large parties of 
the Northmen set sail for the new country and there 
founded a colony. 

5. How long this settlement existed is not known ; 
but at length it was abandoned, probably owing to the 
hostility of the Skraelings. The Norsemen sailed away 
from Vinland to return no more, and all traces of their 
colony disappeared. In course of time their colonies 
in Greenland were also abandoned. The memory of 
Helluland and Vinland almost faded away, and were 
,only preserved in the Icelandic and Norwegian Sagas, 
or story-books, where they have been found in recent 
times. So far as is known, no European vessel followed 
in the track of the Northmen, or crossed the Atlantic 
in any other direction, for five hundred vears, till 



12 FIRST DISCOYERERS. [1001- 

Columbus discovered the New World, far away to the 
south, at the close of the fifteenth century. 

6. There can, however, be no doubt that these North- 
men were the first white men who saw Newfoundland, 
and that they were familiar with portions of the north- 
east coast of America. It is also not improbable that 
traditions of then' discoveries would linger among the 
people of Iceland for generations. Around their winter 
firesides, the old Icelanders would tell to English and 
Spanish sailors, who visited their shores, how their great- 
grandfathers had found a vine-growing country, far 
away to the west. Columbus is said to have made a 
voyage to Iceland, and these legends may have helped 
to fire his enthusiasm for discovery. Sailors from Bris- 
tol traded to Iceland, and may have carried the same 
tale to the ears of Cabot, who was to re-discover 
Newfoundland ; and thus his hopes of finding land 
across the Atlantic, in the north-west, may have been 
strengthened. 

7. At length the day arrived when these achieve- 
ments of the pioneer Norsemen were to be altogether 
cast into the shade, and when the curtain that had so 
long shrouded the great continent of America from the 
eyes of Europeans was to be completely and for ever 
drawn aside. The fifteenth century was the age of geo- 
graphical discoveries and maritime adventures. New 
ideas regarding the world and men's destiny in it be- 
gan to make way. Suspicions arose in the minds of 
thoughtful men that the narrow strip of earth, consist- 
ing of parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, — all that was 
then known, — could not be the whole. There was one 
man who had pondered deeply, for many years, on 
these secrets of the world. His name was Christopher 
Columbus, a native of Genoa in Italy. He was one of 



1498. 



FIRST DISCOVERERS. 



13 



the most skilful and fearless navigators of his day. 
In his mind at length arose the great thought, that by 
sailing out into those watery wastes which lay to the 
west, he would discover land. He by no means hoped 
to find a great continent, untrodden by the foot of any 
European ; but he thought that by sailing westward, he 




COLUMBUS. 

would reach the eastern shores of Asia, and arrive at 
Cipango and Cathay, as Japan and China were then 
called. He fancied the globe to be much smaller than 
it is ; and little suspected that a vast continent and the 
wide Pacific Ocean lay between him and Eastern Asia. 
8. The great thought, dimly seen at first, rose 
grander and grander, and at length possessed the whole 
soul of Columbus. After oreat trials and difficulties, 



14 FIRST DI8C0VERERS. [1001- 

and much opposition, he at length induced Ferdinand 
and Isabella, sovereigns of Spain, to intrust him with 
the command of three small ships, for purposes of dis- 
covery. The little squadron carried only one hundred 
and twenty men. On the 3d of August, 1492, he sailed 
from the port of Palos, in Andalusia ; and on the 12th 
of October he landed on an island which he called San 
Salvador, one of the Bahamas. On that day connec- 
tion between the two worlds began. A noble deed was 
done, such as can never be repeated — one that must 
stand alone in the records of time, encircling the name 
of the doer with imperishable renown. His discovery 
may be said to have doubled the habitable globe. Once 
and for ever the knowledge of a New World was secured 
for all men. 

9. The daring achievement of Columbus was soon 
followed by another, which, though not so brilliant and 
dazzling, has secured for Cabot a fame second only to 
that of the discoverer of the New World. We can easily 
fancy what an effect on men's minds the news of Colum- 
bus's great discovery must have produced, as it flew 
from nation to nation. All the noble, energetic spirits 
of Euroi)e longed to explore the wonders of the new 
country. Among those who felt this' impulse most 
strongly were John Cabot and his son Sebastian, who 
were then living in the city of Bristol, a seaport on the 
west coast of England. John Cabot was a native of 
Venice, who had for some time resided in Bristol, where 
his children were born, and where he had successfully 
carried on business as a merchant. He was an intelli- 
gent, thoughtful man. His son Sebastian was an able 
navigator ; and both father and son had given much 
attention to the great maritime enterprises which then 
filled the minds of men. To them the thought presented 



1498.] 



FIBST DISOOVFRERS. 



15 



itself, that by taking a north-west course, instead of the 
track which had led Columbus to San Salvador, they 
would reach, by a shorter route, the eastern coasts of 
Asia. In this way they hoped to open up intercourse 
with the Cathay and Cipango, of which Marco Polo, the 
great traveller, had 
given such glowing- 
accounts. 

10. They had 
no trouble in in- 
ducing Henry VII. , 
who then occupied 
the throne of Eng- 
land, to sanction 
their enterprise. 
This monarch was 
sorely mortified 
that he had not be- 
come the patron of 
Columbus, and 
thus shared in the 
honours and profits 
of his discoveries. 
He now readily hs- 
tened to the bold 
project of the 
Cabots, and 
granted them " letters patent," authorizing their under- 
taking. "With the parsimony for which he was noted, he 
left these men to bear all the expenses of the enterprise, 
and, in addition, bargained with them for a fifth part of 
all the profits. Not much credit is due to the king. The 
whole honour belongs to the Cabots, who adventured, not 
only their fortunes, but their lives, for the glory of their 
adopted country. ^ 




SEBASTIAN CABOT. 



16 FIRST DISCOVERERS. [1001- 

11. And so, early in the month of May, 1497, in a 
small caravel called " The Matthew," probably under one 
hundred tons burthen, these bold navigators sailed from 
the port of Bristol. Their course lay to the north-west, 
across the stormy wastes of the North Atlantic, where, 
since the daj^s of the Northmen, European ship had 
never ventured. 

12. Unfortunately, very few records of this voyage, 
from which such important consequences were to flow, 
have been preserved. But, in fancy, we can follow the 
little vessel, as it ploughs its way over the heaving bil- 
lows of an unknown sea. We can see, in imagination, 
the resolute commander and his heroic son, as they pace 
the deck, vigilant, hopeful, breathing courage into the 
hearts of the half -terrified sailors, blessing every breeze 
that wafts them away from the habitations of civilized 
men. Onward the little vessel glides, a mere speck up- 
on the waters. On the evening of June 23d the sun 
went down on the weary round of waters, and as yet 
there was no sign of land. Hope began to waver. But 
as the mist cleared away on the morning of June 24th, 
the glad cry of " Land Ho ! " rang out from the mast- 
head of " The Matthew," and a round of hearty cheers 
from stout English sailors greeted the first sight of the 
island of Newfoundland. We can fancy how glad and 
thankful these brave men must have felt at the success- 
ful termination of their perilous voyage. 

13. For a long time it was doubtful what part of the 
New World was first seen by Cabot, and named by him 
"Prima Vista." Some said it was Cape Bonavista, on 
the eastern coast of Newfoundland. Others declared it 
was a part of the Labrador coast. Such doubts have 
lately been set at rest by the discovery of a map, bear- 
ing the date of 1544, and made by Sebastian Cabot, or 



1498.] FIRST DISCOVERERS. 17 

under his direction. This map shows that his "Prima 
Vista " was near the eastern point of the present island 
of Cape Breton, After making laud here, Cabot appears 
to have steered in a north-westerly direction, passing 
round Prince Edward Island ; then north-easterly, till 
he fell in with the coast of Labrador ; and then home- 
ward, through the Straits of Belle Isle, round the north 
of Newfoundland. 




AMERIGO VESPUCCI. 



The main fact, however, is, that on this first voyage 
he discovered Newfoundland, and was also the discoverer 
of the continent of America. At this date, only some 
of the West India islands had been discovered by Colum- 
bus ; and Amerigo Vespucci (pronounced Ali-ma-re- 
go Ves-poot-che) ^ whose name has been given to the 
New World, had not made his first voyage across the 
Atlantic at the period of Cabot's discovery. Thus, the 



18 FIRST DISCOVERERS. [1001- 

honour of discovering continental America belongs of 
right to Cabot. 

14:. As there is no mention of John Cabot after this 
time, it is probable that he did not long survive his first 
famous voyage. His son Sebastian now took his place 
as a discoverer. In the following year, 1498, he was 
authorized by King Henr}^ to sail again, with six ships, 
to the land and islands which he had found. On this 
second expedition he sailed along the coast of Labrador 
to the 60th degree of north latitude. Deterred by the 
cold and ice from proceeding farther, he turned south, 
and coasted as far as the 38th degree, and then returned 
to England. Thus, by right of discovery, he secured 
for England a claim to Newfoundland and the neigh- 
bouring islands, and also to the whole coast of North 
America, from Hudson's Bay to Florida. He did for 
England as much as Columbus had done for Spain. 

15. On his return from the first voyage. King Henry, 
with his characteristic stinginess, presented John Cabot 
with a gratuity of ten pounds. An entry of this shabby 
transaction has been found in the privy-purse accounts 
in the following words: "August 10th, 1497, To Hym 
that found the New Isle, £10." But the English people 
appreciated his worth and great services better than 
their king. They followed him in crowds, wherever he 
appeared, to pay him honour; called him "The Great 
Admiral " ; and he could have enlisted as many of them 
as he pleased for his future voyages. 

16. Sebastian Cabot made a third voyage, on which 
he is said to have sailed as far south as Cuba. For 
many years he lived in England, honoured and admired 
for his kind, modest disposition. He was ever urging 
on new maritime and commercial adventures. In com- 
pany with others, he was the first to open up a trade 



1498.] FIRST DISGOVEREBS. 19 

between England and Russia. After a time he entered 
the service of the King of Spain, and was the discoverer 
of Brazil and the explorer of the Plata and Paraguay 
rivers. In the reign of Edward VI., he returned to 
England, and was appointed Chief Pilot of the king- 
dom, with a pension. He died in his eightieth year, in 
London. It is told of him that, on his dying bed, his 
thoughts often turned to the sea, whose mysterious 
secrets he had pondered for three-score years, and over 
whose billows his adventurous youth had opened a path- 
way.- In the fevered wanderings of his mind he spoke 
of a new and infallible method of finding the longitude 
which had been divinely revealed to him, but which he 
was not permitted to disclose to any mortal. 

17. It was said of him that " he gave England a 
continent — and no one knows his burial-place." It 
may be added that, in all that continent, there is not a 
spot called b}^ his name, with the exception of one small 
island on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, to which 
was recently given the name of Cabot's Island. 



20 EXAMINATION QUESTIONS. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER I. 

1. Describe the situation of Newfoundland. Give the dimen-" 
sions of the island. Why is its position so important? 

2. Who were the Northmen? What were they noted for? 
Give an account of their colonies in Iceland and Greenland. 

3. Describe the way in which the Northmen were led to dis- 
cover America. What name did they give Newfoundland, and 
why? 

4. Where were their Markland and Vinland? Who were 
their leaders on this expedition? What people did they meet with 
in Vinland? 

5. Why did they abandon their colony in Vinland? Where 
was the story of their discoveries preserved? 

C How might it have been possible for Columbus and Cabot 
to hear of their voyages? 

7. What was the fifteenth century noted for? Who was 
Columbus? What was the great thought which he cherished? 
Where did he hope to arrive by sailing west? 

8. Who assisted him on his first voyage? Give the dates of 
his departure and arrival. Where did he land? What makes his 
discovery so great? 

9. Give an account of John Cabot and his son Sebastian. 
What course did they propose to take, and what country did they 
hope to reach? 

10. What did Henry VII. do to assist the Cabots? 

11. When did Cabot sail? Name of the vessel? 

12. Give an account of the voyage. What land was dis- 
covered, and on what day? 

13. Where was Cabot's "Prima Vista"? What different 
opinions about it have been held? What was Cabot's course 
home? Who first discovered the continent of America? 

14. Describe Cabot's second voyage. What were its results? 

15. What reward did Henry VII. give Cabot? How did tlie 
English people regard him? 

16. Give a sketch of the remaining portion of Cabot's life? 
Mention his further discoveries. How Avere his thoughts em- 
ployed on his death-bed? 

17. How was his memory neglected? Does anyplace bear 
his name? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 21 



MAP QUESTIONS. 

Give the boundaries of Newfoundland. Where are the Straits 
of Belle Isle? Gulf of St. Lawrence? Labrador? Cape Breton? 
Show the positions of Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Rhode Island. 
Where are Genoa, Venice, Palos, San Salvador? Trace the 
course of Columbus to the Bahamas. Point out Japan and China. 
Where is Bristol? Trace Cabot's first voyage. 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS IN CHAPTER I. 

The Northmen. — In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Norsemen, 
or Vikings, were the terror of Christendom. From their rugged strong- 
holds in Norway and Denmark, they issued in their light barques, ravag- 
ing the shores of Southern Europe, carrying terror and destruction 
wherever they went. Their skiU in the management of their ships was 
marvellous. The affrighted dwellers on the shore saw them fearlessly 
careering over the stormiest seas, with all sails set. No poit was safe 
from their attacks. Passing up the rivers in their small boats, they as- 
sailed the inland towns, burning and slaying. They were heathen of the 
most ferocious type, without fear or pity. They regarded the sea as their 
proper domain, and aU that was to be found on it as their lawful prey. 
England felt the weight of their strong arms. They ravaged its cities 
and planted a powerful kingdom Avithin its boundaries, which required all 
the skill and courage of the Saxon King Alfred to subdue. In France 
the Northmen seized and held Normandy, and from this vantage ground, 
in 1066, they invaded and conquered Saxon England. With all their wild 
energy and destructiveness, we can now see, on calmly looking back, that 
this people, mingling with the other nations of Europe, imparted to them 
many elements of valor, strength, and greatness. The English of to-day 
have a large mixture of Scandinavian blood in their veins, to which they 
owe some of their best qualities. Such were the wild sea-rovers who, 
before aU other pale-faced men, looked on the shores of Newfoundland, 
and first colonized the American continent. 

The Norsemen's Sagas. — Saga is a Norse word, and denotes a 
talc or poem founded on oral tradition, and gradually moulded into a 
written form. The old Icelandic, Norwegian, and Danish literature has 
of late years engaged the attention of scholars, and consists largely of 
these half -historical, half-mythical sagas, some of which have been 
translated into English. They belong from the ninth to the thirteenth 
centuries. The Royal Society of Northern Antiquarians at Copenhagen 
has given special attention to this literature. 



22 NOTE 8 AND EXPLANATIONS. 

Christopher Columbus. — Born at Genoa about the year 1435. 
He was. the son of a cloth- weaver. When a youth, he acqmred a good 
knowledge of the Latin language, and of geometry, astronomy, and nav- 
igation. At the age of fourteen he went to sea, being di-awn to it by an 
irresistible longing. For twenty years he was either constantly voyaging 
or making chai'ts. When thirty-five years of age he came to Portugal, 
drawn by the fame of its sea-captains and maritime discoveries. Thence 
he passed to Spain, and obtained the patronage of Ferdinand and Isabella. 
When he returned after his great discovery, he was received with all the 
honors of a triumphant conqueror ; and the poor Genoese sailor became 
the most famous man in all the world. He made three more voyages, iu 
the last of which he discovered, in 1498, the mainland of America, at the 
mouth of the river Orinoco. Yet he never knew that he had discovered 
a new continent, and died in the belief that what he had found was the 
eastern coast of Asia. He soon found the worthlessness of popularity. 
Seven years after his discovery he was sent home a prisoner in chains 
from the land he had found. On his return from his final expedition, 
broken in health and spirits, his noble patroness, Queen Isabella, was dead, 
and the ungrateful Ferdinand received him coldly, refused to restore him 
his ofiices and property, of which he had been unjustly deprived, and 
left him to spend his last daj^s in poverty and neglect. He died on the 
20th of May, 1506, at the age of seventy. His remains were inteiTed first 
in Valladolid ; afterwards carried to Seville ; then taken across the 
Atlantic to St. Domingo ; and finally, two hundred and fifty years after- 
wards to Havana, in the island of Cuba. In the Cathedral of Havana, 
on the right hand of the high altar, is an insignificant mural tablet, with 
a Latin inscription. There is nothing else to mark the grave of the Dis- 
coverer of the New World. But he whose monument is a whole conti- 
nent needs no inscription on marble to perpetuate his deeds, which are 
indelibly inscribed on the memory of mankind. 

Sebastian Cabot. — The memory of Cabot has received a similar 
unworthy treatment. His maps, chai'ts, and journals, documents of 
immense value, were never published, and were either lost through 
carelessness or wilfully destroyed. Nicholls, in his Memoir of Cabot, 
who was one of the noblest and bx-avest men who ever trod an English 
deck, says, " The date of his death, like that of his birth, is unknown, 
and we can only infer that it was in or near London, from the fact that 
Richai'd Eden, his faithful and attached friend, who lived there, was 
present. Even where his ashes lie is a mystery ; and he Avho gave to 
England a continent, and to Spain an empire, lies in some unknown 
tomb. This man, who surveyed and depicted three thousand miles of 
a coast which he had discovered ; who gave to Britain, not only, the con- 
tinent, but the untold riches of the deep, in the fisheries of Newfound- 
land, and the whale fishery of the Arctic Sea ; who, by his uprightness 
and fair dealing, raised England's name high among the nations, placed 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 23 

her credit on a solid foundation and made her citizens respected ; who 
was the father of free trade, and gave us the carrying trade of the world ; 
this man has not a statue in the city that gave him birth, or in the 
metropolis of the country he so greatly enriched, or a name on the land 
he discovered. Emphatically the most scientific seaman of his own, or, 
perhaps, many subsequent ages, — one of the gentlest, bravest, best of 
men, — his actions have been misrepresented, his discoveries denied, his 
deeds ascribed to others, and calumny has flung its filth on his memory." 

The world knows not its prophets ; stones them when living, leaving 
after ages to build their sepulchres. 

Amerigo Vespucci, — orAmericus Vespucius, as he is commonly 
called, — was born in Florence at 1451. Under the auspices of the King 
of Portugal, he made two voyages to South America, of which he pub- 
lished accounts, declaring himself the discoverer of the mainland of the 
Western Continent. Some years afterwards a German geographer pro- 
posed that the name America should be given to the new land, in his 
honour. By some strange caprice of fortune the proposal found accept- 
ance, and Columbus's claims to name the land he had discovered Avere 
unjustly set aside. 

Marco Polo« — Born at Venice. He visited in 1272 the coui-t of 
Kublai Khan, the ruler of Chinese Tartary, who intrusted him with mis- 
sions to China and India. He was the first European who visited China 
proper. After his many wanderings, he returned home and wrote an 
account of his travels, which excited the greatest interest, and helped 
to kindle the passion for discovery in the lands he had traversed in the 
mind of Columbus himself. 

'* Prima Vista." — Though Cabot's map seemed to indicate the 
eastern point of Cape Breton Island as the first land he approached, — 
or his "Prima Vista," — yet as Ne^vfoundland is but fifty or sixty miles 
distant from that point, and was probably seen soon after as the vessel 
glided along the coast, and as most of the histories of the voyage repre- 
sent Newfoundland as the first land discovered by Cabot, I have followed 
the common account in the text, and represented the sailors of " The 
Matthew " as greeting the sight of the island with British cheers. 



24 CHRONOLOGY. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY. — MEMORABLE EVENTS 
AND PERSONS OF THE PERIOD. 

A, D. 

1001. Newfoundland and the Continent of America discovered 
by the Northmen. 

1015. Canute the Great (Dane) on the throne of England. 

1042. Edward the Confessor. 

1066. William the Conqueror. 

1096. Eirst Crusade, led by Peter the Hermit. 

1147. Second Crusade, led by Louis VII. of France. 

1189. Richard I. of England began to reign. 

Third Crusade, led by Frederic Barbarossa, Philip Au- 
gustus, and Richard of England. 

1215. Magna Charta obtained. 

1270. Eighth and last Crusade. 

1311. Suppression of the Knights Templar. 

134-3. Cannon first used. 

1346. Battle of Crecy. 

Distinguished authors of the fourteenth century — Dante, 
Petrarch, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Froissart. 

1431. Joan of Arc burned. 

1435. Christopher Columbus born. 

1452. Invention of printing. 

1455. Wars of the Roses begun. 

1472. Sebastian Cabot born at Bristol. 

1474. First book printed in England. 

1479. Union of the Kingdom of Ferdinand and Isabella. 

1485. Henry VII. of England began to reign. 

1492. America discovered by Columbu^. 

1497. Newfoundland and the Continent of America discovered 

by the Cabots. 

1498. Coast of America explored by Sebastion Cabot. 
Continent of America discovered by Columbus. 

1499. Amerigo Vespucci visited South America. 
1506. Death of Columbus. 



THE RED INDIANS. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

THE RED INDIANS, OR ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 

THEIR ORIGIN. MEMBERS OF THE ALGONQUIN FAMILY. 

THEIR MODES OF LIFE. — SAD FATE. 

1, When the island of Newfoundland was discovered 
b}' Cabot it was found to be inhabited by a savage tribe 
of Red Indians, who lived b}^ hunting and fishing. They 
called themselves Bethucks or Boeothics. Their appear- 
ance and modes of life prove that they were a branch of 
the race of red men who were found spread over the whole 
continent of North America. At what time this tribe wan- 
dered away from the parent stock, and found their way 
to Newfoundland, is utterly unknown. Most likely they 
crossed originally from Canada, by the Straits of Belle 
Isle, or from the neighbouring island of Cape Breton. 

However this ma}' have been, they were widely spread 
over the island when the white men arrived. In all 
probability, for many centuries before, they had been 
hunting the reindeer and bear, trapping the otter, fox, 
and beaver, and gliding over the lakes and rivers in 
their birch canoes. The herds of reindeer, the ptarmi- 
gan, wild geese and ducks, the salmon, codfish, and 
seals, must have given them food in abundance. The 
skins of the animals they slaughtered, and the rich furs 
which were the spoils of the chase, supplied them with 
clothing. They had a method of preparing these skins 
for use by smoking them, instead of tanning, as is now 
the practice. 



26 THE BED INDIANS. 

For this wild, roving people it was an evil day when 
the pale-faces appeared. Then began those conflicts, 
cruelties, and miseries which at length ended in the com- 
plete extinction of the race. In the whole of the island 
not a single representative of this once numerous tribe 
now exists. Only a few relics, consisting of their arrow- 
heads, hatchets, and other stone implements, have been 
preserved. Some of these, and also a single skull of 
one of the race, are now in the G-eological Museum in 
St. John's, and they are nearly all the traces of the Red 
Indians now left. 

2. When Europeans began to explore the continent 
of America, north and south, they found it occupied by 
a people very unlike themselves. They named them 
" Indians," because they supposed the country to be only 
the eastern part of Asia, or India, as it was then gener- 
ally called. finding their mistake afterwards, they 
called this strange people " American Indians." They 
presented a great diversity in appearance and modes of 
life ; and yet there was a family likeness, common to them 
all, which has led learned men to conclude that they 
were all descended from the same stock. Their origin 
is unknown. They were all of the same swarthy and 
copper colour ; had long, straight, black hair, high cheek- 
bones, long eyes, and scanty beards. The most natural 
division of them is into two great families, one called 
the Toltecan, and the other the American. The Toltecan 
nations include the Mexicans, Peruvians, and Chilians, 
who were found in a much more advanced state of civili- 
zation than the American division, which comprehended 
all the barbarous tribes of the New World. 

3. It is believed that the whole of the American 
aborigines numbered in the vicinity of 20,000,000 when 
the Europeans arrived. Those trilbes who lived along 



THE RED INDIANS. 27 

the Atlantic coast of North America occupied both sides 
of the Alleghany mountains, from the Gulf of Mexico to 
Canada and New Brunswick. Nearly all of these be- 
longed to two great families, called the Algonquins and 
the Iroquois. The Algonquins were spread over the 
space between the river Mississippi and the Atlantic, and 
as far north as Hudson's Bay. They all spoke dialects 
of the same language. This great family included such 
tribes as the Ottawas, Ojibways, Chippewas, Abena- 
quis, and many more. The Iroquois, called also the 
" Five Nations " and the " Six Nations," lived to the 
south of the great lakes of Canada, and comprehended 
such tribes as the Mohawks, Hurons, Senecas, and many 
besides. They also spoke dialects of one language. It 
is believed that both together numbered a quarter of a 
million of Indians. 

4:. The question arises, to which of the two great 
families did the Indians of Newfoundland belong ? From 
an examination of their language learned men are satis- 
fied that they were 'a branch of the wide-spread and war- 
like Algonquins. In their habits, appearance, and mode 
of life they resembled the Algonquin tribes who lived 
in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Canada. 

5. Cabot said of them: "The inhabitants of this 
island use the skins and furs of wild beasts for garments, 
which they hold in as high estimation as we do our finest 
clothes. In war they use bows and arrows, spears, 
darts, clubs, and slings." Like the other Indians they 
shaved their hair, except one lock, called the " scalp- 
lock," which was tied on the top, and ornamented with 
birds' feathers. The women wore their hair long, and 
had closer-fitting garments than the men, and their 
waists girded. They had an original method of kindling- 
fire, by striking together two pieces of iron pyrites, — a 



28 TEE RED mm AN- 8. 



kind of stone which is very common in the island. Their 
bows were of sycamore or mountain ash, the strings 
being of deer's sinews. Their arrows were of well- 
seasoned pine, light, and perfectly straight, the heads 
being of stone sharpened to a fine point. The}" were 
able to make fish-hooks of bone, and nets out of vege- 
table fibres. 

6. They lived in wigwams, the frames of which were 
made of poles, and covered with birch-bark, or skins, 
through which was an opening for the smoke to escape. 
Some of these winter wigwams were large enough to 
contain eighteen or twenty people ; and a dozen or more 
of them, when placed together, formed an Indian vil- 
lage. It has been found, on examining the remains of 
some of these wigwams, that around the fireplaces they 
dug small hollows in the ground, like nests, and lined 
them with dry moss, or the soft branches of trees. In 
these they sat, and probably slept. The soft, warm lining 
must have added greatly to theh comfort in the cold 
nights of winter. They were able to make vessels out 
of the rind of spruce trees, sufficiently strong to stand 
the heat of boiling water, and in these they cooked 
their meat. 

7. Perhaps the most wonderful of all their contriv- 
ances were their deer- fences. In order to capture the 
deer, during their annual migrations from north to south, 
they constructed fences along the banks of rivers, such 
as the Exploits. These were sometimes thirtj^ or forty 
miles in length. The labour of erecting them and 
keeping them in repair was very great, and shows that 
they must have been a numerous tribe to accomplish so 
much work. Openings were left in these fences, at 
different places, for the deer to go through and swim 
across the rivers. At these spots the Indians were 



THE RED INDIANS. 29 

stationed, and with their spears slaughtered the deer 
when in the water, out of their canoes. The fences 
were made by felling trees along the banks, without 
chopping their trunks quite through, and taking care 
that each tree, as it fell, took the proper direction, and 
joined on to the last which had been cut. Any gaps 
were filled by 4i'iviiig i^ stakes and interweaving 
branches of trees. They were from eight to ten feet 
high, so that no deer could overleap them. 

8. Their canoes were made of the bark of the white 
birch, were light, often gracefully shaped, and could be 
easil}^ paddled, as the}^ drew little water. The whole 
rind of a birch tree was stripped off, without being torn, 
and then put round a light frame. The edges were 
sewed together with thongs, made of the tough roots of 
certain trees, and the seams were covered with a kiud of 
pitch, made from the gum of trees, so as to render them 
water-tight. When injured the canoe could be easily 
patched with pieces of bark, fastened in the same way. 

9. The Indian snow-shoe was made by stretching a 
net- work of deer's hide on a light frame, three or four 
feet long, curved and tapering. The net- work was 
fastened to the foot by thongs, and the foot was covered 
only with a light moccason, made of deer-skin. On 
these shoes an Indian could travel forty miles a day, 
and even run down a deer whose hoofs cut through the 
crust of the snow. 

10. The Indians of Newfoundland, like those of the 
continent, were tall, well-proportioned, robust, but not 
equal to Europeans in bodily strength. They had not 
such strong arms, and could not strike such heavy blows. 
But they were active, light of foot, and possessed won- 
derful powers of endurance. Their carriage was grace- 
ful and dignified. So keen were their perceptions that 



30 TEE RED INDIANS. 

they could make their way through a trackless forest 
with ease simply by observing the appearance of the 
moss and bark upon the trees. They had the virtues 
and vices of savage life. They were devoted to their 
tribe ; faithful to one another ; brave, and possessed of 
a wonderful fortitude ; but in war they were fierce, 
vindictive, merciless, and cruel to prisoners. They 
treated their women with cruelty, and made them work 
like beasts of burden. They had no idea of restraining 
their animal appetites, and ate voraciously when food 
was plentiful, without any regard to the future. 

11. The early voyagers to the shores of the island 
described them as lively, tractable, and disposed to be 
friendly with white men. The good understanding, 
unhappily, did not last long. When the settlers began 
to spread over the shores of the island they seized on 
the best fishing-stations, and drove away the Indians. 
Quarrels arose. Doubtless there were faults on both 
sides. The savages, when opportunity offered, stole the 
goods of the whites. To them such objects as knives, 
hatchets, nails, and lines, presented a temptation almost 
irresistible. The rude fishermen and trappers of those 
days were an immoral, lawless order of men, and punished 
the thefts of the savages mercilessly. These, again, 
retaliated fiercely ; and thus a state of savage warfare 
was established, and terrible deeds were done. The red 
man became the implacable foe of the white man ; and the 
latter regarded the Indians as vermin, to be hunted down 
and destroyed. That the poor savages were treated with 
brutal cruelt}^ admits of no doubt. 

12. But what could clubs and arrows avail against 
fire-arms ? Gradually the red men were reduced in num- 
bers. They were driven from their fishing-posts on the 
bays and rivers ; their hunting-grounds were invaded by 



TEE RED INDIANS. 



31 



the furriers. Hunger and disease thinned their ranks. 
Another tribe of Indians, from Nova Scotia, called Mic- 
macs, attacked them, and had the advantage of knowing 
the use of fire-arms. Slowly, but surely, the unhapp}- 
tribe wasted awa}^, and at length disappeared from the 
face of the earth. 

13. Before they were quite exterminated the spirit 
of humauit}^ awoke, and zealous efforts were made to 
save them from destruction. Proclamations forbidding 
any one to injure them, under heavy penalties, were 
issued by the British government. An expedition was 
sent to the river Exploits, to open friendly communica- 




WIGWAM POINT, RIVER EXPLOITS. 



tions with them, but ended disastrously. A female called 
Mary March, from the month in which she was captured 
by some hunters on Red Indian Lake, was brought to 
St. John's, in 1819. She was treated with great kind- 
ness, and sent back to her tribe with presents, but died 
on the way. Another Indian woman, called in her 
language Shanandithet, was also taken at a later date. 
She lived six years in St. John's, and died of consump- 
tion. She declared she dared not go back to her tribe 
after having held intercourse with the whites, as they 



32 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

would kill her. When, in 1828, an exploring party was 
sent by some benevolent persons to their head-quarters 
at Red Indian Lake, not a living Boeothic could be found. 
Thus the efforts to atone for past wrongs and cruelties 
were too late, and proved fruitless. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER II. 

1 . Who were the inhabitants of Newfoundland at the time of 
its discovery? By what name were they known? To what family 
of the American Indians did they belong? How did they live? 
What effect had the arrival of Europeans on their destiny? What 
relics of them are in existence ? 

2. Why were the aboriginal inhabitants of America called 
Indians? Describe their appearance. Into what two famihes 
have they been divided? Who were Toltecans? 

3. What was the number of the aborigines of America when 
Columbus arrived? What two great families of Indians occupied 
the Atlantic coast of North America ? Where did each of them live ? 

4. To which of them did the Indians of Newfoundland belong? 
What proofs are given? 

5. What did Cabot say of the Newfoundland Indians? How 
did they wear their hair? How did they kindle fire? Describe 
their bows, arrows, fish-hooks. 

6. Describe their wigwams. What contrivance had they for 
warmth around their fireplaces? 

7. Describe their deer-fences. How were they made? What 
was their height? 

8. How were their canoes made? How repaired? 

9. Describe their snow-shoes. How far could they travel in a 
day? 

1 0. What was their personal appearance ? How did they make 
their way through a forest? What were their virtues and vices? 
How did they treat their women ? 

11. How did the white settlers treat the Indians? What were 
the causes of quarrels? 

12. How were they reduced in numbers? What Indian tribe 
attacked them? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 33 

13. What efforts were made to save the Indians from destruc- 
tion? Who were Mary March and Shanandithet? When was the 
last effort made to find them, and what its result? 



MAP QUESTIONS. 

Point out the region of North America occupied by Algonquin 
and Iroquois Indians. Where is Red Indian Lake? Wliat river 
flows through it? Trace the Exploits from its head-waters to its 
outlet. 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTEH IL 

The Religion of the Indians. — Little is known of the re- 
ligious ideas and observances of the red men of Newfoundland. Like 
the other tribes of North America, they probably believed in the exist- 
ence of a Supreme Being, whom they called the Great Spirit; and also 
of an infei'ior spirit, whose nature was malicious and evil. Their worship 
was chiefly addressed to the evil spirit with a view of propitiating him. 
They thought the Good Spirit needed no prayers to secure his protection 
and blessing. Their religious observances consisted chiefly of songs and 
dances, with much noise and excitement. They believed that all animals 
had protecting spirits, and that the winds and the stars had also spirits. 
In Longfellow's poem of "Hiawatha" many of their legends and re- 
ligious ideas and ceremonies have been preserved. In some of their 
graves around Red Indian Lake have been found bows, arrows, and other 
weapons, and articles of property which had belonged to the deceased 
in their lifetime. This indicated that the Bethucks believed they would 
live again after death, and use these weapons in the happy hunting- 
grounds of the blest in heaven. All brave warriors and good women 
were to be happy there forever, following the same pursuits as on earth. 

Numbers of the Indians. — Within the limits of the United States 
there are now about 150,000 Indians, who are cared for by the govern- 
ment. Only a few of them have adopted habits of civilized life. Al- 
together there are 500,000 Indians, in the United States. In the older 
provinces of Canada there are 30,000 Indians Avho are in charge of a.de- 
partment of the State. Including British Columbia, the North-west, and 
Labrador, the Indians and Esquimaux in the whole of the Dominion of 
Canada number 132,000. In both countries they are diminishing in num- 
bers, and in fifty or a hundred years few will probably remain. 

Haunts of the Indians. — They appear to have inhabited chiefly 
the north-eastern, northern, and north-western portions of Newfound- 
land. Many of their implements and weapons have been dug up on the 
shores of Trinity and Bonavista Bays, at Fogo and Twillingate, and in 
White Bay. Their head-quarters were in the neighbourhood of Red 



34 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 

Indian Lake. When Cormack, the traveller who crossed Newfoundland 
in 1822, penetrated to Red Indian Lake, in 1828, he found numerous ruins 
of their winter and summer wigwams, their storehouses for smoking and 
drying venison; also, a large canoe, twenty-two feet in length. He 
could find no living Indian. In a wooden hut, well protected from wild 
animals and the weather, he found the bodies of two grown persons laid 
out on the floor, wrapped in deer-skins. This was one of their modes of 
burial. In the same place was the body of Mary March, in a white 
coffin. When she died her remains were left in this coffin, at the sea- 
side; and had been conveyed by the members of her tribe to this burying- 
place. With Cormack's expedition the last hope of finding any of the 
Red Indians was abandoned. No trace of them has been discovered 
since his day. 

Their Intellectual Faculties. — The Bethucks did not advance 
beyond the savage state. They were not, however, inferior to the 
Canadian tribes. The Avhole race of American Indians were greatly in- 
ferior to Europeans, and even to Mongolians, in mental powers. In 
constructive and imitative faculties they were very low ; and to this day, 
though in contact with white men, they have made little progress. 



1497.1 EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 35 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM 1497 TO 1534. 

EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. 

THE SPANISH, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH. IMPORTANCE OF 

THE NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES. 

1. Now that the New World was discovered, and 
some idea obtained of its vast extent, the question 
arose, who were to explore it and take possession of it? 
The most wonderful tales were told about it. Sailors, 
and other adventurers ^yho had been there, related stories 
about rivers which flowed over pebbles of gold, and 
sands sparkling with precious gems ; of vast forests, and 
lovely flowers, in lands teeming with fertility. Here was 
a boundless field for human energy. The wildest hopes 
of obtaining vast wealth were kindled ; and all the 
adventurous spirits of Europe were eager to undertake 
voyages to the new land. The Spaniards, who were the 
first discoverers, rushed away in such multitudes upon 
these expeditions that some large towns in Spain lost 
half their inhabitants. Portugal and France followed 
in the same track, and England was not far behind.' 
Immediate gain was the object of everyone. Gold was 
the grand attraction. 

2. All the great nations of Europe thought the}' had 
a right to seize and hold whatever portion of the new 
continent they had discovered or explored. But at first 
they had no great desire to stay there and keep posses- 
sion. They wanted to plunder, or find gold and silver 
to enrich themselves, then to return to their own countrv 



36 EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. [149T- 

and enjoy their wealth. Only a few thought of trading 
with these new countries - They did not wish to settle and 
make homes for themselves across the Atlantic. Nearly 
a hundred years elapsed, after Columbus's discovery, 
before the great idea of colonizing America took firm 
hold of the European mind. 

3. The Spaniards early obtained possession of the 
West India Islands. The conquest of Mexico by 
Cortes, in 1521, and of Peru by Pizarro, speedily fol- 
lowed. The immense plunder obtained in these coun- 
tries failed to satiate their thirst for gold, and the 
Spaniards began to look towards North America. 
There was at that time an aged Spanish warrior, named 
Ponce de Leon, who, in his youth, had distinguished 
himself in fighting against the Moors in Spain. He 
had been a companion of Columbus, on his second 
voyage, and was afterwards appointed Governor of Porto 
Rico ; but, being displaced, he returned to Spain. Among 
the strange tales which were told in these credulous 
times was one about a " Fountain of Youth," which was 
said to exist in this new land. It was believed to have 
the power of restoring youth, with all its powers, to the 
happy man who bathed in its ever-flowing waters. He 
who was fortunate enough to find it obtained the secret 
of perpetual youth. Ponce de Leon was an old man, 
and he resolved to find this wonderful fountain. He 
wanted also to renew his fortune, as well as his youth, 
by the riches he hoped to find. And so, in 1512, he 
sailed westward from Porto Rico ; and on Easter Sun- 
day, which the Spaniards called Pascua Florida, or 
Flowery Easter, he came in sight of a new land, to which 
he gave the name of Florida. The country was then 
beautiful with the opening blossoms of spring, so that the 
name seemed appropriate in a double sense. Ponce de 



1534.] EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 37 

Leon did not find in the flowery land the " Fountain of 
Youth," but something very different, when, on a sec- 
ond visit, five years later, he received his death-wound 
from an Indian arrow. But he found for Spain a new 
province, and a new channel for commerce through the 
Gulf of Florida. Fifty years afterwards, near the spot 
where he first" landed, the town of St. Augustine was 
founded, and it is the oldest in the United States. 

4. Great results followed this search for the " Foun- 
tain of Youth." Fabulous stories were told about 
Florida, and it was reported to be the richest country in 
the world, abounding in gold and gems. Another 
Spanish noble, named De Soto, heard and believed these 
tales, and determined to possess himself of the riches of 
Florida. He organized an expedition composed of 600 
men, splendidly armed and equipped, among whom were 
the very flower of Spanish youth, full of hope and cour- 
age, and eager for discovering new lands and plundering 
their inhabitants. He lauded on Florida in 1539, and, 
with his men, began the march northward into the 
interior. The Indians were hostile and fought against 
the invaders. No gold was found ; scarcely could food 
be obtained. Terrible hardships were endured. No 
rich cities, like those in Mexico and Peru, were found, 
but only poor villages of savage tribes. Sickness 
thinned their ranks. At length De Soto, to his astonish- 
ment, arrived at the banks of a magnificent river, a mile 
in width, having a current of great strength. In the 
Old World there was nothing to be compared to this 
majestic stream. It was the Mississippi, the " Father 
of Waters," now first seen by Europeans. The Span- 
iards managed to cross it, and for many months wan- 
dered among the dreary swamps and gloomy forests of 
this region. At length, broken in health and spirit, De 



3 8 EXPL OR A TION AND SE TTL EMENT. [1 497 - 

Soto died. His men formed a rude coffin out of the 
trunk of a pine tree, and, in tlie darkness of the night, 
sunk his body in the middle of the river, that his death 
should not be known to the Indians, who might treat his- 
remains with indignity. He rested beneath the waters of 
the river he had discovered. His men constructed some 
rude vessels, and floated down the Mississippi to the 
Gulf of Mexico. Only 300 managed to escape, and 
they reached Cuba in a wretched plight. 

5. Important consequences were to follow from these 
disastrous failures of the first explorers. On the strength 
of this discovery of Florida, Spain, at one time, claimed 
as her own the whole coast of North America as far as, 
and including, Newfoundland ; and even to the extreme 
north of the continent. The name North America was 
not then heard of, and Spain called the whole Florida, 
and claimed it as part of her vast dominions. Yet she 
had not occupied a harbour, or marked out a settlement, 
or built a fortification, on the whole coast, and had 
acquired no right by discovery, excepting over Florida. 

6. These vast claims, on the part of Spain, were not 
at first disputed by any other powen France, however, 
was now about to enter the field, and to contend for her 
share of the New World. Gradually, as events dis- 
closed themselves, and discoveries extended, a grand 
scheme was formed, in the minds of French monarchs 
and statesmen, of creating a "• New France," with feudal 
institutions, in the western hemisphere. This plan was 
pursued by the French with determined energy for two 
centuries and a half. It was in carrying this scheme 
of empire into execution that they, were brought to New- 
foundland, and tried so often to conquer and annex it. 
Indeed, at one time, it seemed as if France was to be 
the ruling power in North America. 



1534.] EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. 39 

7. The attention of France was first drawn to North 
America by the discovery of the fisheries of Newfound- 
land. The same holds good regarding England. The 
attraction which first led Englishmen to these western 
seas, and awoke in the national mind an impulse to colo- 
nize these new countries, was the immense fish wealth 
in the seas around the island discovered by Cabot. 
Here, they saw, was an inexhaustible supply of the finest 
food, at a time when fish, salted and fresh, entered very 
largely into the diet of the people. France and England 
early engaged in the prosecution of the cod-fisheries on 
the Banks and around the shores of Newfoundland. 
Both nations drew enormous wealth, year after year, 
from these industries, and thus increased their national 
greatness. The English and French fishermen engaged 
in these fisheries supplied the navy and mercantile 
marine of both nations with bold and skilful sailors, 
and thus developed their power at sea. Both nations 
found here the best nurseries for seamen. Both were 
thus drawn to the region of the St. Lawrence, and were 
led to plant colonies, originally with a view to carr}^ on 
the fisheries. The rivalry between the two powers for 
obtaining the sovereignty of the soil arose in connection 
with the fisheries. The long wars between France and 
England were avowedly for the fisheries and the terri- 
tories around them. Thus the fisheries of Newfoundland 
really laid the foundation of the empire which England 
at length acquired in America, when her supremacy was 
established, after a long contest with France. These 
fisheries were far more influential in bringing about the 
settlement of North America than all the gold of Mexico 
and Peru accomplished in Southern America. 

8. The humble, industrious fishermen, who plied their 
hard labours along the shores and on the Banks of New- 



40 QUi:STIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 

foundland, and in the neighbouring seas, were the 
pioneers of the great host from the Old World who, in 
due time, built up the United States and overspread 
Canada. They have done an honourable stroke of work 
in the great business of the world. England owes 
much to them. Till these fisheries drew her seamen 
from their narrow seas, and taught them to brave the 
storms of the Atlantic, her merchant marine was of 
small account, and her nav}' had scarcely an existence. 
In prosecuting these fisheries England learned how to 
become mistress of the seas. It was in Newfoundland, 
too, that the great mother of colonies made her first 
attempt at colonization. Here her flag first waved over 
her possessions in the western hemisphere. Newfound- 
land is her oldest colony. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER III. 

1. What wild tales were told about the New World? What 
eflfect had these stories? What nations engaged in exploring it? 

2. What was supposed to give a right of possession? What 
was the chief object of adventurers? 

3. Who were Cortes and Pizarro? Who was Ponce de Leon? 
What did he go in search of? Why Avas Florida so called? What 
was the fate of Ponce de Leon? 

4. Who was De Soto? Why did he visit Florida? How many 
men had he? Describe his march. What great river did he dis- 
cover? Where was he buried? 

5. Why did Spain claim all North America? Why were her 
claims unjust? 

6. What scheme of empire did the French form? 

7. What first drew the attention of the French and English to 
North America? Why were the fisheries so valuable to both na- 
tions? How did their navies and commerce profit by the New- 
foundland fisheries? Why did the two nations go to war? How 
did English settlements begin? 

8. Who were the pioneers in settling North America? Show 
the importance of these fisheries to England. 



NOTES AND EXPLANATION'S. 41 



MAP QUESTIONS. 

Where are Mexico, Peru, Porto Rico, Florida? Trace the 
course of the Mississippi. Point out its principal tributaries. 
"Where are the Banks of Newfoundland? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER III. 

Cortes. — Hernan Cortes was born in 1485, at a village of Estrema- 
dura in Spain. He distinguished himself in the conquest of Cuba, and 
was selected to undertake the conquest of Mexico. He sailed in 1518, 
with 10 vessels, 600 infantry, and 18 horsemen. After three years of 
desperate fighting and a terrible slaughter of the Mexicans he seized 
their emperor, Montezuma, took their capital, obtained immense quanti- 
ties of gold, and completely conquered the kingdom. He returned to 
Spain, and died at Seville, in 1547. 

Pizarro. — Francisco Pizarro, conqueror of Peru, was born in Estre- 
madura, in 1476. He was with Balboa when he discovered the Pacific 
Ocean. In his various expeditions and voyages about Panama he discov" 
ered the vast and px-osperous Peruvian empire, abounding in gold, silver, 
and precious stones. In 1529 he obtained from Charles V., of Spain, 
authority to conquer Peru. In 1531 he set out with 3 vessels, 180 men, 
and 27 horsemen. He was guilty of the direst cruelties and treacheries ; 
but with a handful of men he defeated the hosts of Peruvians, took their 
capital, and executed their emperor. He lived at Lima almost like a 
king, but died by the hands of an assassin in 1541. 

Florida. — Though Ponce de Leon gave Florida its name, Sebastian 
Cabot was its first discoverer, on his second voyage. It is now one of 
the United States, with a population of 200,000. It produces cotton, 
sugar, oranges, rice, tobacco. Owing to its fine climate it is now a 
resort of invalids. In 1763 Spain ceded Florida to England in exchange 
for Havana. It was reconquered by the Spaniards in 1781. In 1821 it 
was ceded by Spain to the United States. 

The Mississippi. — One of the largest rivers on the globe. From 
Little Winnipeg Lake, its principal source, to its termination in the 
Gulf of Mexico, it is 3,200 miles in length. It drains an area of 1,240,000 
square miles, or nearly one-seventh of North America. The valley 
through which it flows is called "the garden of the world," from its 
fertility. It receives the Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin rivers, and 
many others, and rolls its vast volume through eighteen degrees of lati- 
tude. Its discharge of water at its mouth is at the rate of 675,000 cubic 
feet per second. 



42 ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION. [1534- 



CHAPTER lY, 

FROM 15.34 TO 1583. 

ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 

BRETON AND BASQUE FISHERMEN. PROGRESS OF THE 

FRENCH IN CANADA. ARRIVAL OF SIR HUMPHREY 

GILBERT. 

1. Soon after Cabot spread the news of the abun- 
dance of fish of the finest quality, and in great variety, 
in Newfoundland waters, the French fishermen of Brit- 
tany and Normandy were engaged there in taking cod. 
They were the first to profit by this new discovery of 
Englishmen. These bold mariners ventured out into 
these stormy seas in their little cockle-shells of vessels, 
such as no one would now dream of using in crossing 
the Atlantic. They reached the Island of Cape Breton, 
and gave it the name it now bears, after their home in 
Bretagne, or Brittany. Seven years after Cabot's dis- 
covery, in 1504, these hardy fishermen were here, carr}- 
ing on a profitable industry. They were soon followed 
by the fishermen of the Basque provinces, in the north- 
west of Spain, who were scarcely less daring at sea. 
They have left a memorial of their visits in the name of 
Port-aux-Basques, a fine harbour near Cape Kay, on the 
southern shore of Newfoundland. The Portuguese fish- 
ermen speedily took part in the same fisheries. A 
Portuguese navigator, named Gaspard Cortereal, had, in 
1500, visited Newfoundland, and discovered and named 
Conception Bay and Portugal Cove, on its southern 
shore. The number of vessels and men engaged in 



1583.] ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION 43 

these fisheries rapidly increased. In 1517 40 sail of -i 
Portuguese, French, and Spaniards were thus employed, i 
In 1527 John Rut, an English captain, visited St. John's, 
and wrote a letter, when there, to Henry VIII., in which 
he said he found in the harbour 11 sail of Normans, 1 
Breton, and 2 Portuguese barques, but no English fish- 
ing-vessels. So late as 1578 there were 400 fishing- 
vessels employed, of which 150 were French, and only 
50 were English, — so slow were they in following the 
lead of the other nations. England had not yet dis- 
covered the immense value of these fisheries, though 
increasing numbers of her fishermen were taking a part 
in them. Other nations were freely using the shores and 
harbours of the island discovered by Cabot ; but as yet ^ 
EngUshmen made small account of it and its fisheries, 

2. Meantime the wealth which F^rance was deriving 
from these seas led her to form new and extensive de- 
signs of colonizing North America. Her claims to the 
possession of the northern part of the continent rested 
on the discoveries of John Verazzani (pronounced Yer- 
rat-tsah'-ne) , a Florentine, who was employed by Francis 
I., King of France, to explore the new region. In 
1524 he sailed from France, reached the coast of North 
Carolina, and then examined the whole coast to the 
northward. Passing the shores of what are now Vir- 
ginia and Maryland, he entered the harbour of New 
York, which he found crowded with Indian canoes. 
Pursuing his voyage he coasted along Maine and Nova 
Scotia, and examined many miles of the shores of New- 
foundland. He then returned to France, and wrote an 
account of his discoveries. 

3. The career of discovery, thus opened, was eagerly 
pursued b}^ France. Ten years later, in 1534, Jacques 
Cartier (Zhak Kar-te-ay), the famous Breton mariner 



44 



ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION. 



[1534- 



of St. Malo, sailed from that port with a commission 
from the French king. His voyage proved to be a mo- 
mentous one in its consequences. He passed through 

the Straits of Belle 
Isle, entered the Bay 
of Chaleur, unfurled 
the French flag at 
Gaspe, discovered the 
River St. Lawrence, 
and on his second 
voyage ascended it as 
far as Montreal, and 
built a fort at Quebec. 
Thus C artier was the 
discoverer of Canada, 
and secured it for 
France. To a French- 
man belongs the hon- 
our of this great dis- 
covery ; for the Eng- 
lish never ascended the St. Lawrence in any of their 
early voyages. The hold thus obtained by France 
was not relinquished for two hundred and twenty-six 
years, when Quebec fell before the conquering arms of 
Wolfe. 

4, Other adventurers followed in the track of Cartier. 
Roberval's expedition ended in disaster. De la Roche, 
fifty years after, was equally unfortunate. But the 
brave and high-minded Champlain and De Monts carried 
on the work of exploration, colonization, and the exten- 
sion of French commerce, and thus laid the foundations 
of French empire in the West. All Canada and Acadia 
(the name given by the French to Nova Scotia and New 
Brunswick) was held by France. Newfoundland, with 




JACQUES CARTIER. 



1583.] ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION. 45 

its fisheries, seemed likely to share the same fatei Mar- 
quette, a Jesuit Father, starting from the great lakes of 
Canada, followed the river Wisconsin till he reached the 
Mississippi, and sailed down the river for some distance. 
It was a deed of true heroism. La Salle, a French 
cavalier, followed courageously in the same course, and 
sailed down the Mississippi to its outlet in the Gulf 
of Mexico, — a memorable achievement. France then 
claimed all the vast territory through which the great 
river flowed ; and La Salle named it Louisiana, in honour 
of Louis XIV. 

5. Thus it looked as if there were to be no English 
settlements in North America. All the southern portion 
was called Florida, and belonged to Spain ; and " New 
France" seemed destined to absorb all the rest. And 
yet the day was coming when neither France nor Spain 
would own a foot of land in the whole continent of 
America, north and south ; and when, of all the vast pos- 
sessions of France in the New World, her flag would 
wave over but two small islands, St. Pierre and Miquelon, 
at the mouth of Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. 

6. All this time the English had never forgotten that 
Cabot and his stout west-country sailors had first dis- 
covered Newfoundland and the mainland of North Amer- 
ica, which were theirs by right of discovery. And 
now, at length, the hour arrived for enforcing their rights, 
and claiming their share in the western world. The 
great movement was begun by taking formal possession 
of Newfoundland, and making a first, though unsuc- 
cessful, attempt to plant a colony there. This is the way 
in which it came about. 

7. There was living in England, in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, a brave, patriotic nobleman, named Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert. His residence was Compton Castle, near 



46 



ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION. 



[1534- 



Torbay, in. Devonshire. He had a half-brother, also a 
knight, called Sir Walter Raleigh, whose name is famous 
in English history. Sir Humphrey Gilbert had won high 

distinction as 
a soldier in 
his youth. 
In his mature 
manhood he 
gave much 
attention to 
navigation, 
geography, 
and the great 
discoveries 
which were 
then going 
on in the 
western hem- 
isphere. He 
wrote a book, 
in which he 
tried to prove 
that it was 
possible to find a north-west passage to Eastern Asia. 
He had formed a very high opinion of the value of the 
Newfoundland fisheries. Many of the Devonshire fish- 
ermen were already engaged in these fisheries ; and from 
some of the captains Sir Humphrey, no doubt, obtained 
his information. He considered that the right way to 
carry on these fisheries was by settling English people 
on the island, who could both fish and cultivate the soil, 




SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. 



thought it a shame that his countrymen should be content 
to look on with indifference, while the French and Span- 



1583. 



ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION. 



47 



iards were dividing among themselves the soil and riches 
of the New World. He knew that England had acquired 
rights by discovery ; and he believed that it was her 
duty to do her part in exploring and settling these new 
countries, and thus open a field for the enterprise of her 
people. 

8. His half -broth- 
er, Sir Walter Eal- 
eigh, held the same 
views ; and together 
they laid the matter 
before Queen Eliza- 
beth. She at once 
gave Sir Humphrey 
letters-patent au- 
thorizing him to take 
possession of New- 
foundland on her be- 
half, to colonize it, 
and to exercise juris- 
diction over it and 
all the neighbouring 
lands within two hun- 
dred leagues in every direction. 

9. An expedition was organized, consisting of five 
vessels. Sir Walter Raleigh embarked in one of these ; 
but an infectious disease broke out on board, and com- 
pelled him to return to port. Gilbert, with the other 
four vessels, reached the harbour of St. John's, early 
in August, 1583. The largest of these vessels, the 
" Deliglit," was only of 120 tons ; the " Golden Hind," 
of 50 tons ; the " Swallow," of 50 tons ; and the " Squir- 
rel, of 10 tons. The number of adventurers on board 
was 260, most of them Devonshire men. 




SIR WALTEK RALEIGH. 



48 ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION. [1534- 

10. At that time there were lying in the harbour of St. 
John's thirty-six vessels, of which nearly half were Eng- 
lish ; the rest were Portuguese, French, and Spanish, all 
engaged in fishing. On the 5th of August, 1583, Sir 
Humphrey, his officers and men, all landed. The captains 
and crews of the fishing-vessels were summoned to 
attend. In the midst of the motley assemblage the 
English knight stood up and read the patent authorizing 
him to take possession of the island on behalf of his 
royal mistress. After the custom of the times, twig 
and sod from the island were presented to him, and he 
solemnly declared Newfoundland a portion of the British 
empire. The banner of England was hoisted on a flag- 
staff ; the royal arms, cut in lead, were affixed to a 
wooden pillar, near the water's edge ; and with some 
rounds of hearty British cheers the ceremonial of the 
day was brought to a close. 

11. Ver}^ soon, however, troubles arose. Many of 
the men on board Sir Humphrey's little fleet were not 
of the right stamp for colonists, and they became dis- 
contented and troublesome. Sickness broke out, and 
Gilbert sent the sick home in the "Swallow." With 
the remaining thi'ee vessels he set out, on the 20th August, 
to prosecute further explorations. He got as far as 
Cape Eace, where his largest vessel, the " Delight," 
struck on a shoal and went to pieces. The brave 
captain, Morris Browne, refused to leave his ship, and 
perished with the greater part of those on board. Only 
15 escaped in a boat, and reached land after terrible suf- 
ferings. Sir Humphrey had been on board the little 
" Squirrel," surveying the different harbours. Dis- 
heartened by the loss of his largest vessel, on board of 
which were most of the stores, he deemed it wise to 
return to England, especially as winter was at hand. 



1583.] ENGLAND TAKES POSSESSION. 49 

12. His men pressed him to go on board the " Golden 
Hind," the larger vessel ; but the gallant knight said 
" he would not abandon his brave comrades whose 
perils he had shared," and he remained on board the 
little nutshell of a vessel, where his flag was flying. A 
terrible storm overtook them near the Azores. The 
"Golden Hind" kept as near the little "Squirrel" as 
possible, for every moment it seemed as if she would be 
swallowed up. In the midst of the tempest the crew of 
the larger ship saw the brave knight, who was a stranger 
to fear, sitting calmly on the deck, with a book before 
him, and heard him cry to his companions, " Cheer up, 
lads ! We are as near heaven on sea as on land." The 
darkness of night closed in. Suddenly, about midnight, 
the lights of the " Squirrel" disappeared, and Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert and his men sank amid the dark billows of 
the Atlantic. 

13. Thus perished one of the noblest and bravest of 
those who, in that age, sought to extend the dominion of 
England in the New World. The ' ' Golden Hind" reached 
Falmouth a mere wreck. The first attempt to colonize 
Newfoundland ended thus disastrously, as, indeed, did 
most of the first efforts at planting colonies in the 
western hemisphere. The loss to Newfoundland of Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert was great and irreparable. Had he 
lived, and succeeded in planting a colony, then the cul- } 
tivatiou of the soil would have gone on, hand in hand 
with the fisheries, and the wealth derived from the fish- 
eries would have remained in the country for its improve- 
ment. A prosperous resident population would thus ^ 
have grown up. Instead of this, Gilbert's plans were 
set aside. The fisheries were carried on from England, 
and laws were enacted forbidding the fishermen to settle 
in the island, as we shall see farther on in this history, 



50 QUESTION'S FOB EXAMINATION. 

and compelling them to return home each year as winter 
approached. For the benefit of a few greedy, selfish men 
the island was kept, for a long time, a mere fishing-sta- 
tion, and all the money made by fishing was spent in 
other lands, and the country left in a wilderness condition. 



QUESTIONS FOE EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER IV. 

1. Who were the first to engage in the Newfoundland fish- 
eries ? At what time ? What place in Newfoundland was named 
by the Basques? Who discovered Conception Bay, and when? 
What number of vessels were employed in the fisheries in 1517, 
1527, and 1578? How many were English? 

2. Describe the voyage of Verazzani. When did he sail? 
What did France claim from his discoveries? 

3. Who was Cartier? What discoveries did he make? What 
result followed to France? 

4. Name other French explorers who followed Cartier. What 
did Acadia include? Who discovered the sources of the Missis- 
sippi? Who first sailed down its entire length? What claim did 
France make in consequence? Why was Louisiana so named? 

5. Has Spain or France any possessions in the continent of 
America now? 

6. On what did England's title to a portion of North America rest? 

7. Who was Sir Humphrey Gilbert? Whowas his half brother? 
What was his character? What opinion did he form of the New- 
foundland fisheries and the best way of carrying them on? 

8. Who gave him letters-patent? What jurisdiction did these 
give him? 

9. Why did Raleigh not accompany Gilbert? What ships had 
Gilbert, and what tonnage were they? How many men? 

10. What did he find in St. John's harbour? Give the date 
of his landing. How did he take possession of the island? 

11. What ship did he send home? Describe the wreck of the 
" Delight." Why did Gilbert return to England? 

12. Why did Gilbert refuse to leave the " Squirrel" ? De- 
scribe the loss of this vessel. What were Gilbert's last words? 

13. What vessel reached England? How was Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert's death such a loss to Newfoundland? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 51 



MAP QUESTIONS. 

Where is Brittany? Normandy? The Basque provinces? 
Point out Port-aux-Basques. Where is St. Malo? Gaspe? 
Quebec? Montreal? Trace La Salle's voyage on the Missis- 
sippi. Where is Devonshire? Torbay? St. John's, New- 
foundland? Cape Race? The Azores? Falmouth? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER lY. 

Consumption of Fish. — The consumption of fresh and salted 
fish in Europe before the discovery of America, and for a long period 
afterwards, was immense. It must be remembered that all Europe, 
England included, was then Catholic ; and during the fasts of the Church 
the pickled herring of Holland was the principal food. The foundations 
of Amsterdam were said to be laid on herring-bones. The Dutch be- 
came immensely Avealthy by their monopoly of the herring-fisheries. In 
noblemen's families in England, at that period, retainers and servants 
lived on salt beef and mutton ; but for three-fourths of the year on fish, 
with little or no vegetables. In the great Earl of Northumberland's 
establishment it is on record in their household book that *' my lord and 
lady had for breakfast a quart of beer, as much wine, tAvo pieces of salt- 
fish, six red herrings, four white ones, and a dish of sprats." No wonder, 
that Cabot's discovery of the Newfoundland fisheries created such a 
sensation and led to an excitement on the subject of fishing. Persons of 
the highest distinction took part in the fishing adventures of those days, 
and a rapid extension of the Bank and shore fishery followed on the part 
of France and England. Thus the enterprises of the hardy fishermen 
of both nations, to procure an article of food for the fast days of the 
Church, led to the most important political results. Even when England 
had become Protestant, laws were passed to promote the consumption of 
fish among the people, in order to encourage the fishing industries, espe- 
ciaUy those in American waters. In 1563, in the reign of Elizabeth, a law 
was passed which provided " that as well for the maintenance of shipping, 
the increase of fishermen and mariners, and the repairing of port-towns, 
as for the sparing of the fresh victual of the realm, it shall not be lawful 
for any one to eat flesh on A7ednesdays and Saturdays, unless under the 
forfeiture of £3 for each offence, except in case of sickness and those of 



52 NOTES AND EXPLANATION'S. 

special licenses to be obtained." Other laws followed until there were 
one hundred and fifty-three days on which only fish could be eaten. 
The punishment for the violation of these laws was, for the first offence 
a fine often shillings and ten days' imprisonment; for the second, double 
these inflictions. No wonder fish was in great demand, 

Francis I. — King of France from 1515 till 1547- His famous 
interview with Henry VHI., of England, on "the Field of the Cloth of 
Gold," took place in 1520. He was taken prisoner in the battle of Pavia, 
in 1525. 

Jacques Cartier. — A native of St. Malo, a seaport in the north- 
west of France, on the north coast of the province of Bretague. He 
was the discoverer of Canada and the St. Lawrence. He and Eoberval 
met in 1542, in the harbour of St. John's, Newfoundland. Roberval was 
on his way to Canada ; Cartier was on his way home to France. Rober- 
val, as commander of the expedition, ordered Cartier to return to 
Canada; but he refused, and sailed for France. Robeiwal Avent on, 
built a fort on the St. Lawrence, and perished with his men, by cold and 
famine, during the following winter. 

Samuel de Champlain, born at Brouage, a small seaport on the 
Bay of Biscay. He fought under Henry of Navarre, or Henry IV., the 
first king of the House of Bourbon. Being a favourite at court, he 
obtained command of an expedition to Canada, to explore and colonize. 
He was a man of noble character, courageous, disinterested, kind, and 
courteous. His remarkable exploits and labours belong to the history of 
Canada, in whose interests he toiled for thirty years, and of which he was 
the Father and Founder. He was appointed, at length. Governor of 
Canada, in 1633, and died two years after, universally lamented. Lake 
Champlain, of which lie was the discoverer, bears his name. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert was a son of Sir Otho Gilbert, of Compton 
Castle, Torl)ay. His mother was a Champernoun, of purest Norman 
descent. Sir Otho had three sons by this lady, — John, Humphrey, and 
Adrian, — who all proved to be men of superior abilities. They were all 
three knighted by Elizabeth. Sir Otho died, and his widow married 
Walter Raleigh, a gentleman of ancient blood, but impoverished. To 
her second husband she bore a son whose fame was destined to be world- 
wide, and \vho was knighted as Sir Walter Raleigh by Elizabeth. Not 
many women could boast of being the mother of four such sons. 



CHRONOLOGY. 53 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY.— CHAPTERS III. AND IV. 

A.D. 

1497. Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese navigator, doubled the Cape 

of Good Hope and reached India. 

1509. Henry VIII. King of England. 

1512. Florida discovered by De Leon. 

1513. The Pacific Ocean discovered by Balboa. 
1515. Francis I. King of France. 

1519. Charles V. King of Spain and Emperor of Germany. 

1520. Magellan's voyage round the globe. 

1521. Mexico conquered by Cortes. 

1524. North America coasted by Verazzani. 

1531. Peru conquered by Pizarro. 

1534. St. Lawrence discovered by Cartier. 

1541. The Mississippi discovered by De Soto. 

1552. Edmund Spenser born. 

1558. Elizabeth Queen of England. 

1556. Philip II. King of Spain. 

1564. Shakespeare born. 

1577. Drake's voyage round the world. 

1588. Spanish Armada invaded England. 

1589. Henry IV. (first Bourbon) King of France. 



EMINENT MEN IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

Michael Angelo ; Raffaelle ; Sir Philip Sidney ; Spenser ; 
Shakespeare ; Cervantes ; Copernicus ; Martin Luther ; Cardinal 
Bellarmine ; John Knox ; Ignatius Loyola ; Tycho Brahe. 



54 FISHERIES. [1583- 

CHAPTER V. 

FISHERIES. 

IKOM 158a TO 1615. 

INCREASE OF THE ENGLISH COD-FISHERY. GUY's SETTLE- 
MENT IN CONCEPTION BAY. ITS FAILURE. 

1 . Though the voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert ended 
SO disastrously to himself and others, it was far from 
being fruitless. It fixed the attention of Englishmen on 
Newfoundland and its valuable fisheries, and prepared 
the wa}^ for other enterprises designed to promote its 
settlement. Not only so, but G-ilbert's attempt at 
colonization awoke in the minds of his countrymen that 
spirit of adventure which led them to plant colonies in 
New England, which have since grown into the great 
Republic of the United States. 

2. Undeterred by the sad fate of Gilbert, his half- 
brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, obtained a patent from 
Queen Elizabeth for planting colonies in America. In 
1584 he fitted out two ships and founded a colony, 
which he named Virginia, after the maiden queen. No 
colony can claim to date so far back, and hence it is 
often called ''The Old Dominion." This gallant Eng- 
lishman stands foremost among the colonizers of the 
New World, He undauntedly pursued these enterprises, 
and lavished his fortune on them. He diffused among 
his countr^^men such a knowledge of America, and such 
an interest in its destinies, as bore abundant fruit, long 
after he was laid in the grave. No braver or more 
patriotic Englishman ever lived. No greater disgrace 



1615.1 



FISHERIES. 



55 



attached to the name of James I., of Euglaud, than the 
act of sending to the block, in his old age, and after 
twelve years' imprisonment, Sir AYalter Raleigh, the gal- 
lant sohlier, the accomplished scholar, the far-seeing 
statesman, the persevering coloDizer. It was not, how- 
ever, till thirteen 
3^ears after Ra- 
leigh's first effort 
that the first per- 
manent English 
colon}' was 
formed in Vir- 
ginia, in IGSS", 
under a charter 
from James I. 
It was planted at 
Jamestown, on 
the shores of 
Chesapeake Bay. 
3. For twenty- 
seven years after 
the failure of Gil- 
bert's expedition 
no fresh attempt 
was made to 
found a colony in 
Newfoundland. 

War between England and Spain broke out in 1584. 
The bold sea-rover, Sir Francis Drake, was despatched 
with a small squadron to Newfoundland, where he made 
prizes of a number of Portuguese vessels, laden with fish 
and oil, and carried them to England. The attention 
of English adventurers was once more turned to New- 
foundland. There is a record of one Richard Apsham, 




SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 



56 FISHERIES. [1583- 

who, in 1593, fitted out two vessels for the purpose of 
taking walruses, on the south-west coast, where, at that 
time, these animals were plentiful. Four years later 
some London merchants fitted out two armed vessels, 
which, after fishing some time on the Banks, encoun- 
tered some French and Spanish vessels off the south- 
ern shore. After a sharp contest the English vessels 
captured the others, and carried one of them to Graves- 
end, with a valuable cargo of fish and oil. One of the 
English ships, however, was wrecked on Cape Breton. 

4. Meantime the shores of Newfoundland were re- 
sorted to by the fishermen of various nations, who took 
fish in its waters, and used its harbours and coves for 
curing and drying them. In 1577 there were 100 
Spanish and 50 Portuguese vessels thus employed ; but 
they rapidly diminished in numbers, and, in a short 
time, withdrew almost entirely from these fisheries. The 
wealth to be acquired in the gold regions of South 
America soon proved a stronger attraction to the 
Spaniards than this sea-harvest, which could only be 
gathered amid toils and dangers. Portugal, too, pre- 
ferred colonization in South America, and the acquisi- 
tion of wealth in the mines of Brazil. Thus the New- 
foundland fisheries were left to the English and French. 
In 1577 the French had 150 vessels employed, and 

"prosecuted the fisheries with great vigour and success. 
On the accession of Henry lY., the first Bourbon, the 
cod-fishery was placed under the protection of the gov- 
ernment, and was regarded as being of great national 
importance, and such it has been ever since. 

5. The English, who were later in commencing this 
industry, soon gained rapidly on their rivals, the French. 
During the ten years which followed the death of Gilbert, 
ending in 1593, the progress of the English fishery in 



1615.] FISHERIES. 57 

Newfoundland was so great that Sir Walter Raleigh 
declared, in the House of Commons, " it was the stay 
and support of the west counties of England." In the 
year 1600 it is known that 200 English ships went to 
Newfoundland, and that they employed, as catchers on 
board, and curers on shore, quite 10,000 men and boys. 
Sir WilUam Monson, an Englishman who wrote in 1610, 
declared that since the island was taken possession 
of the fisheries had been worth £100,000 annually to 
British subjects. This was an immense sum in those 
days. He further said that these fisheries had greatly 
increased the number of England's ships and mariners. 
The ships left England in March for the fishing-grounds, 
and returned in September. The fishermen passed their 
winters in England, idly spending their summer earnings. 
6. It is not wonderful, under such circumstances, 
when Newfoundland was so prominently before the 
minds of Englishmen, that a second effort should be 
made to plant a colony on its shores. In 1609 John 
Guy, a merchant, and afterwards mayor of Bristol, pub- 
lished a pamphlet, in which he pointed out the advan- 
tages of colonizing the island. It was evident that 
much time and money were wasted in carrying on the 
fisheries from England. To persons of broad, liberal 
views it was clear that the right method was to hold out 
inducements to fishermen to live permanently near the 
fishing-grounds, — the plan proposed by Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert. Guy's pamphlet made such a deep impression 
on the public mind that a company was formed to carry 
out the enterprise it suggested. Several noblemen hav- 
ing influence at the court of James I. took part in this 
undertaking. Among these were the celebrated Lord 
Bacon, who was then Solicitor General ; Lord North- 
ampton, Keeper of the Seals; Sir Francis Tanfield, 



58 FISHjEEIES. [1583. 

Chief Baron of the Exchequer ; Sir Daniel Donn, and 
other noblemen and gentlemen to the number of fifty. 
The importance of the island as a site for a colony did 
not escape the wide-ranging eye of Lord Bacon, who 
declared that " its fisheries were more valuable than all 
the mines of Peru," This judgment has been amply 
confirmed by time and experience. To this company 
James I., by letters-patent, dated April, 1610, made a 
grant of all that part of Newfoundland which lies be- 
tween Cape Bonavista and Cape St. Mary. 

7. The enterprise, thus favourably commenced, was 
not successful. Guy was appointed governor, and, with 
a considerable number of colonists, landed at Mosquito 
Cove, near Harbour Grace, on the north shore of Con- 
ception Bay. Here temporary habitations were erected. 
By kindly and prudent measures he conciliated the 
native Indians, and secured their friendship. Little is 
known regarding the history of this settlement, which, 
according to Whitbourne's account, continued for four 
or five years in a fairly prosperous condition. For some 
unexplained reason Guy and some of the colonists re- 
turned to England, and those who remained moved to 
other localities. It is not improbable that piracy was 
the cause of the failure. In 1612 Peter Easton, a noted 
pirate, with ten well-appointed ships, made himself 
complete master of the seas, and levied a general con- 
tribution on vessels employed in fishing. He made a 
descent on Conception Bay, and seized a hundred of the 
fisliermen there, and carried them off to man his own 
fleet. It is not unlikely that the infant settlement of 
Guy was so harassed and plundered by this freebooter 
that it was broken up. 

8. The year 1613 is memorable as that in which the 
first child of European parents was born in Newfound- 
land. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 59 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER V. 

1. What important results followed from Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert's voyage to Newfoundland? 

2. Who founded the Colony of Virginia, and in Avliat year? 
What was the character of Sir Walter Raleigh? What was his 
fate? When and where was the first permanent settlement formed 
in Virginia? 

3. When did Sir Erancis Drake visit Newfoundland, and what 
did he do? For what purpose did Richard Apsham send vessels? 
What occurred in 1597? 

4. When were Spanish and Portuguese fishing-vessels most 
numerous in Newfoundland waters? Why did they withdraAv? 
How many French vessels were fishing in 1577? 

5. What shows the increase of English fishing-vessels? What 
did Sir Walter Raleigh say of the value of these fisheries? What 
did Sir William Molson say of them? What time did the English 
fishermen leave home and return? 

G, Who was John Guy? What steps did he take to establish 
a colony in the island? Who joined him? What did Lord Bacon 
say of the fisheries? What was the date of Guy's patent? What 
was tlie extent of the grant? 

7. Where did Guy commence a settlement? How long did it 
continue? What was the probable cause of its failure? 

8. What is the year 1613 noted for? 



MAP QUESTIONS. 



Where is Virginia? Jamestown? Chesapeake Bay? What 
State is on the south of Virginia? Where is Gravesend? Brazil? 
Point out Mosquito Cove. 



60 NOTES AND EXPLANATION'S. 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER V. 

Sir Walter Raleigh's death on the scaffold was a very pathetic 
scene. He first knelt down and prayed ; then he arose and examined 
the block. " Show me the axe," he said to the executioner. Touchinof 
the edge with his finger and kissing the blade, he said, " This gives me 
no fear. It is a sharp and fair medicine to cure me of all my diseases." 
He laid his head on the block, and when the headsman, much moved, 
hesitated to strike, Raleigh said, " What dost thou fear ? Strike, man, 
strike !" He lay quite still, and his lips were seen to move in praj-er. At 
two blows his head was severed from his body. Thus was put to death, 
at the age of sixty-six, a brave man, who had, in his day, but few equals. 

Virginia. — Tobacco and the potato were brought to England by 
Raleigh, and their use in Europe dates from his time. So profitable was 
the growth of tobacco in Virginia that for a time the very streets of 
Jamestown were planted with it. Everything was paid for in tobacco, 
as there was little or no money. Salaries of clergy, taxes, debts, were 
paid in tobacco. Ninety respectable young women were sent out by the 
company from England, and whoever took one of them for a wife must 
pay a hundred pounds of tobacco. If a woman was convicted of slander 
her husband had to pay a fine of one hundred pounds of tobacco. 

Lord Bacon. — Born in 1561, he rose to be Lord Chancellor in 
the reign of James I. His is the greatest name connected with New- 
foundland's colonizers. He was the apostle of experimental philosophy, 
of whom Macaulay says : " Turn where you will, the trophies of his 
mighty intellect are in view." His greatest works were "The Advance- 
ment of Learning" and " The Novum Organon," the influence of which 
was immense. His intellectual grandeur has rarely been surpassed. 
Unhappily, he yielded to the corrupting influences of his time, and 
tarnished his fair fame by accepting bribes in his high judicial office. 
For this he was sentenced to pay a fine of £40,000, which Avas afterwards 
remitted. He spent his closing years in scientific pursuits, and died in 
1626. 



1615.1 WHITBOURNE'S COMMISSION. 61 



CHAPTER VI. 

FROM 1015 TO 1655. 

WHITBOURNE'S COMMISSION. 

SIR GEORGE CALVERT'S CHARTER. — FIRST ARRIVAL OF 

EMIGRANTS FROM IRELAND. SIR DAVID KIRKE's 

ARRIVAL. 

1. We now come to au important period in the his- 
tory of the island, and one which marks its rising impor- 
tance. In 1615 Captain Richard Whitbourne, mariner, 
of Exmouth, Devonshire, received a commission from 
the Admiralty of England to proceed to Newfoundland, 
for the purpose of establishing order among the fishing 
population, and remedying certain abuses which had 
grown up there. The appointment of Whitbourne 
shows that the trade and fisheries of the island were now 
chiefly in the hands of the English, as he could not 
exercise such jurisdiction except over British subjects. 
On his arrival at St. John's, he summoned a court, 
empanelled juries, and heard the complaints of no less 
than 170 masters of English vessels, regarding injuries / 
to the fisheries and trade of the island. He found that \ 
there were, besides the vessels of foreign flags, 250 \ 
English ships employed in the fisheries. His courts and ' 
juries were the first attempts at the establishment of law 
and order in the New World, under the authority of 
England. These facts show in what a flourishing con- 
dition was the English cod-fishery at this early date. 

2. Alread}^ fixed settlements had commenced, which 
gradually extended from Torbay (originally Thornebay), 



62 WH1TB0URNW8 COMMISSION. [1615- 

six miles north of St. John's, to Cape Race (originally 
Raze). To connect these settlements, scattered over 
such an extent of coast, with St. John's, the settlers 
cut paths through the woods. Vessels arriving at St. 
John's supplied them with necessaries, in exchange for 
the produce of the fisheries. 

3. In 1622 Whitbourne returned to England, where 
he published a book, called "A Discourse and Discovery 
of Newfoundland." In this book he spoke highly of the 
climate, soil, and fisheries, and strongly urged his coun- 
tr^^men to colonize it. King James ordered a copy of 
this book to be sent to every parish in the kingdom. 
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York issued a letter 
recommending it to the notice of the people, in order to 
induce Englishmen to emigrate to Newfoundland. Thus, 
263 years ago, Newfoundland was a name on the lips of 
Englishmen, and v^as probably more widely known than 
it came to be long afterwards, when it was misrepre- 
sented and decried by interested persons, from selfish 
motives, and treated as a place of little importance. 

4. We now come to notice the best-regulated effort 
yet made to plant a colony in Newfoundland. This was 
carried out under the guidance of Sir George Calvert, 
afterwards Lord Baltimore. He was a Roman Catholic 
gentleman of Yorkshire, who had been knighted by 
James I. , and appointed by him one of the secretaries 
of state. He was a man of intelligence, lofty integrity, 
and possessed of great capacity for business. From the 
king he obtained, in 1623, a patent conveying to him the 
lordship of the whole southern peninsula of Newfound- 
land. He named it Avalon, from the ancient name of 
Glastonbury, Somersetshire, where Christianity is said 
to have been first preached in England. One of his 
objects was to provide a refuge for his co-religionists, 



1655.] 



WHITBOURNE'S COMMISSION. 



63 



of the Roman Catholic faith, who were suffering from the 
persecuting spirit then unhappily prevalent, more or less, 
among all religious bodies. 

5. Sir George Calvert selected Ferryland, fort}^ miles 
north of Cape Race, as the site of his colony. Here he 
built a noble man- 
sion, in which he 
resided for sev- 
eral years. He 
used great care 
in selecting colo- 
nists of the right 
stamp, and en- 
deavoured to pro- 
mote among them 
habits of industry 
and economy. He 
also erected a 
strong fort for 
their protection, 
and large grana- 
ries and store- 
houses. On this 
settlement he ex- 
pended £30,000, 
— a large sum in 
those days. For 

a time things seemed to prosper. Reinforcements of 
colonists continued to arrive, and supplies of stores and 
implements. But the soil around Ferryland was unfa- 
vourable for cultivation. The French, who had now got 
a footing in Newfoundland, in several places, and who 
were at war with the English, harassed his settlement 
with repeated attacks. 




LORD BALTIMORE. 



64 WHITBOURNWS COMMISSION. [1615- 

6» Wearied by these adverse circumstances he at 
length gave up his plantation and returned to England. 
From Charles I. he obtained a patent of the country now 
called Maryland. Before his patent had passed the 
necessary forms Lord Baltimore died in London, in 
1632 ; but a new one was issued to his son, Cecil, who 
succeeded to his honours, and founded the city of Bal- 
timore, in Maryland. Before his death the first Lord 
Baltimore drew up a charter for the Maryland colony, 
which showed that in wisdom, liberality, and statesman- 
ship he was far ahead of his age. The Catholic Lord 
Baltimore was the first to establish a constitution which 
embodied the principle of complete liberty of conscience, 
the equality of all Christian sects, together with popular 
institutions, on the broad basis of freedom. Thus he is 
deservedly ranked among the wisest and best law-givers 
of all ages. Most of the colonists he brought to New- 
foundland remained to increase the resident population. 

7. The first arrival of emigrants from Ireland took 
place soon after the departure of Lord Baltimore. Vis- 
count Falkland was then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 
He sent out a body of settlers from that country to 
increase the small population of Newfoundland. These, 
at a later date, were followed by many more. In this 
way it came about that the population of the island was 
composed of English and Irish settlers and their de- 
scendants ; and, at one time, the Saxon and Celtic 
elements were in almost equal proportions. It is not 
improbable that the disturbed condition of Ireland led 
a number of its people, from time to time, to seek a 
happier home and greater freedom on the shores of 
Newfoundland. 

8, The next charter for the settlement of the island 
was given to Sir David Kirke, who arrived in 1638. 



1655.] 



WHITBOURNE'S COMMISSION: 



65 



This brave sea-captain had won high honours in warlike 
operations against the French in Canada. He had capt- 
ured a French fleet at Gasp6 ; made a clean sweep of 
all the French settlements in Canada and Acadia, and 
taken Quebec. He was knighted for his bravery by 
Charles I., who 
also made a grant 
in his favour of 
the whole island 
of Newfoundland. 
He took up his 
abode at Ferry- 
land, in the house 
built by Lord 
Baltimore. Sir 
David governed 
wisely, and used 
every effort to 
promote the set- 
tlement of the 
country. Much 
success attended 
his efforts. But 
the civil war in 
England, between 
Charles and the 
Parliament, now 

commenced. Kirke was a stanch loyalist, and all his 
possessions in Newfoundland were confiscated by the 
victorious Commonwealth. B}^ the aid of Clay pole, 
Cromwell's son-in-law, he was at length reinstated in his 
possessions, and, returning to Ferryland, died there, in 
1655, at the age of fifty-six. 




CECIL, SECOND LORD BALTIMORE. 



Q6 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER VI. 

1 . When did Captain Whitbourne arrive, and for what purpose 
was he sent? What does his appointment show? In what state 
did he find the fisheries? 

2. Where were there fixed settlements at this time? 

3. What did Whitbourne do on his return to England? What 
do you know of his book on the Island? 

4» Who was Sir George Calvert? What Avas his character? 
What was the date of his patent and what the extent of his grant? 
What is the origin of the name Avalon? What object had Calvert 
in view? 

5. Where did he settle? What did he do to secure prosperity 
to his settlement, and how much money did he expend? What 
caused failure? 

6. Where did Calvert go on leaving? AVhat colony was 
founded by his son? What is the constitution of Maryland 
noted for? 

7. When did the first Irish emigrants arrive? 

8. What is the date of Kirke's settlement? What led to his 
coming? Give an account of his colony. Where did he die and 
when? 



MAP QUESTIONS. 

Where is Devonshire? Exmouth? Glastonbury? Ferryland? 
Maryland? Gaspe? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER VI. 

Captain Whitbourne was connected with the trade of Newfound- 
land for forty years, and had formed a high opinion of the capabilities of 
the country. His memory deserves to be held in lasting respect for the 
services he rendered in drawing attention to the island, and urging its 
colonization. Like most seamen he had his superstitions, and believed 
firmly in the existence of mermaids. In his book he gives an amusing 
account of seeing one of these fabulous creatures in the harbour of St. 
John's. He says it came swimming towards him, "looking cheei*fully 
into his face," the face, nose, eyes, and forehead beautiful as a woman's, 
with " blue streaks " about the head like hair. This fascinating creature 
came so boldly and swiftly towards the gallant captain that he thought 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 67 

she meant to spring ashore to him. He had commanded a ship, and 
fought bravely against the Spanish Ai'mada, but he thought it prudent 
to run when he saw the mermaid approaching. Perhaps he thought she 
intended to carry him off to her sea-caves. The mermaid then swam 
away, " often looking back towards me ; " the back and shoulders were 
•* white and smooth as the back of a man." ** This," says the captain, 
** was, I suppose, a mermaid or merman ; but I leave it to others to 
judge." 

There can be no doubt that the honest captain had seen a seal 
disporting in the waters of the harbour, in the haze of the morning, 
and his excited imagination did the rest. 

Ferryland is thirty-five miles south of St. John's. Avalon was the 
ancient name of Glastonbury. The old Eoman town of Verulam occu- 
pied the site there of what was afterwards Stj Albans Abbey. Calvert, 
to perpetuate these memories, called his province Avalon, and his town 
Verulam, which was corrupted first into Ferulam and then into Ferry- 
land. Bonnycastle, however, says its original name was Fore-Island, 
which is applicable to the locality. This was corrupted into Forriland, 
and then into Ferriland, which name it bore in the days of Calvert, as it 
is written so in a letter from the place dated 1622. 

The changes and corruptions of the original French names are often 
curious. Bay of Bulls is a corruption of the French words Bale des 
Boules. Catalina harbour, from St. Catherine's, was originally named by 
the Spaniards Catalina, being the musical Spanish name for Catherine, 
like the Irish Kathleen. The French Baie d'Espoir (Bay of Hope) is 
now, by corruption of the name. Bay Despair. Baie de Lievre is Bay 
Deliver. Baie le Diable has become Jabbouls. Lance au Liable is Nancy 
Jobble. Baie de Vieux, or Old Man's Bay, is Bay-the-View. Baie 
d'Aviron is now Aberoon. Twillingate was originally Toulingiiet. 
Tasse a Varpent is Tostleojohn. Beau Bois is Boboy. 

The presence of the French in Newfoundland is attested by countless 
names of places, such as Notre Dame Bay ; Cape Freehel (now Freels) ; 
Plaisance or Placentia, on account of its beautiful situation ; St. Jude's 
(now Cape Judy) ; Trepassey, the Bay of the Trepasses, or All-Souls ; 
Audierne (now Oderin) ; Cape de Eaz, or Capo Eaco, bare Cape (Cape 
Eace) ; Cape Eay (Eaye), or Split Cape, from its appearance at sea; 
Burgeo, La Poile, La Ilune, Eose Blanche, and numberless places on 
the southern shore. Fermosa, now Fermeuse, the beautiful, andEenews, 
the rocky, must have been named by the Portuguese. 



68 CONTEMPORARY EVENTS. [1600- 



CHAPTEE yil. 

FROM 1600 TO 1650. 

CONTEMPORARY EVENTS. 

PROGRESS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES. FRENCH 

COLONIZATION IN CANADA AND ACADIA. CONFLICT 

BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN NORTH AMERICA. 

1, We must now pause for a moment, in following 
the fortunes of Newfoundland, in order to learn what 
Englishmen had been doing, during the half century 
from 1600 to 1650, in planting colonies on the shores 
of North America ; and how the French progressed in 
colonizing Canada and Acadia. This is necessary in 
order to understand thoroughly the history of New- 
foundland. 

We have already seen how the first permanent English 
colon}^ was formed at Jamestown, in Virginia, in 1607. 
At first it did not prosper, and several times it was on 
the point of extinction. At length, however, emigrants 
of a better sort found their way to Virginia, and the 
colony began to grow, and several other towns arose. 
The early settlers found tobacco in extensive use among 
the Indians. When introduced into England it speedily 
obtained favour. The Virginian settlers soon found the 
cultivation of it a source of great profit. In eighty years 
Virginia numbered 50,000 inhabitants. 

2. The 21st of December, 1620, was a memorable 
day in the history of the New World. On that day a 
little baud of one hundred, called afterwards "the 
Pilgrim Fathers," landed from the Mayflower .^ on 



1650.] CONTEMPORARY EVENTS. 69 

Plymouth Rock, — a granite boulder on the shore of Cape 
Cod Bay, which is still reverently preserved by their 
descendants. They had fled from tyranny and perse- 
cution in England, first to Holland, and then the}' deter- 
mined to seek for a home and freedom amid the great 
forests of New England. They had terrible hardships 
and diflSculties to encounter, but they bravely sur- 
mounted them all. Nine years after, in 1629, five 
vessels sailed into Salem harbour, with another band of 
emigrants on board, direct from England ; and the next 
year eight hundred more arrived. These were "Puri- 
tans," seeking freedom of worship and safety from 
persecution. They founded the towns of Salem and 
Boston ; and the new colony was called Massachusetts 
Bay. Afterwards Plymouth colony united with this one, 
under the name of Massachusetts, — an Indian word, 
signifying, it is said, " Blue Hills." 

3. These were the first of the New England colonies ; 
others speedily followed. Rhode Island was established 
in 1636; Connecticut in 1638; then New Hampshire 
and Vermont. Twenty-four years after the landing of 
the " Pilgrims " the Dutch discovered the Hudson river, 
and built a trading-post on Manhattan Island. They 
called the whole territory along the river " New 
Netherlands," and founded a settlement named " New 
Amsterdam," where now stands the great city of New 
York. The colony prospered. At length, in 1664, 
certain English ships of war entered the ba}^ New 
Amsterdam surrendered ; the whole colony passed under 
British rule, and in honour of the Duke of York, after- 
wards James II., was named New York. The southern 
portion of the territory was named New Jersey. 

4. Thus rapidl}' was the work of colonization carried 
on, while in Newfoundland so many efforts at settle- 



70 CONTEMPORARY EVENTS. [1600- 

ment proved unsuccessful. Pennsylvania, North and 
South Carolina, and Georgia were founded at a later 
date. These early New England colonists were men of 
brave hearts and strong arms, possessed of a free, bold 
spirit, with ability and determination to manage their 
own affairs. They came of their own free choice to 
make a home for themselves, and their rise to strength 
and greatness was rapid. One noble purpose these 
colonists never lost sight of was the education of their 
children. They knew that no success could attend their 
efforts if their children were allowed to grow up in 
ignorance. One of their earliest efforts was to establish 
everywhere common schools, in which every child should 
receive a good education. We need not wonder that 
colonies planted by such men soon attained a robust 
growth. When, in 1774, the American Revolution 
began, the thirteen colonies had a population of between 
two and three millions. It is not wonderful that they 
won their independence. At that time England had but 
6,000,000, Scotland 1,000,000, and Ireland 2,000,000 
inhabitants. 

5. Meantime, let us see what progress the French 
were making in Canada. We have already seen how 
they were led, by taking part in the Newfoundland fish- 
eries, to take possession of Canada and Acadia. Here 
they determined to establish a dominion worthy of the 
great name of France. No expense was spared to pro- 
mote the growth of colonies, which would give them 
a firm hold on these magnificent possessions. Able 
and wise governors were appointed ; soldiers for de- 
fence were furnished ; food was supplied in seasons of 
scarcity. 

In this way the dominion of France gradually extended 
itself along the St. Lawrence, amid ceaseless and de- 



1650.] CONTEMPORARY EVENTS. 71 

structive wars with the native Indians. Quebec and 
Montreal were founded. From the great lakes the 
French pushed their discoveries and explorations down 
the Mississippi to the G-ulf of Mexico, and claimed the 
whole territory drained b}^ it and its tributaries. Soon 
they came in collision with the New England colonists, 
who were extending themselves northward, and wanted 
to secure for themselves the valuable Canadian fur trade. 
At a later date the two nations also met in the valley of 
the Ohio, where the French prohibited the English 
colonists from trading. Bloody and wasteful wars were 
carried on, and both sides endeavoured to secure the as- 
sistance of the Indians. The conflict thus commenced 
went on for a century and a half, during the greater part 
of which time England and France were at war. Eng- 
land assisted her colonies in carrying on war against the 
French, with the view of expelling them altogether from 
the American continent. The French fought with great 
bravery in defence of their possessions, but in vain. 
Gradually their power was weakened. One after 
another their strongholds were captured ; and at length 
their last battle was fought on the Heights of Abraham, 
in 1759, and Quebec was taken by General Wolfe. This 
was one of the decisive battles of the world ; and after 
it the white flag of France no longer waved on the con- 
tinent of America. 

6. It is not difBcnlt to see how the French were driven 
from Canada. They have never been successful as col- 
onizers. In the New World they spent their strength 
mainly in military adventures, in discoveries, and trad- 
ing operations. They did little in cultivating the soil j| 
and making permanent homes for themselves. They 
carried the feudal institutions of old France into the 
Canadian wilderness, and the land was parcelled out 



72 GONTEMPOBARY EVENTS. [1650. 

among a few nobles, who oppressed the people. Mo- 
nopolies of trade were given to favoured individuals. 
Few Frenchmen emigrated voluntarily to Canada, and 
the colony remained feeble and unprogressive. When 
the New England colonists had grown to be over a 
million strong, the French in the valley of the St. Law- 
rence numbered onl}^ sixty-five thousand. These could 
not stand before the sturdy English colonists, backed by 
the military resources of the mother-country. Great 
names adorn the history of New France, such as Cham- 
plain, De Monts, La Tour, La Salle, Frontenac, Mont- 
calm. These men well sustained the fame of their 
country, and employed all their genius and bravery in 
establishing her power. The self-devotion and zeal of 
the Jesuit fathers, in prosecuting their missions among 
the Indians, awaken our admiration. But all failed in 
giving France a permanent hold on Canada. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 73 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER VII. 

1. What industry was carried on by the early Virginia 
settlers? Did they increase? 

2. When did the Pilgrim Fathers arrive? Where did they 
land? Why did they leave home? Where did the Puritans land? 
What towns did they found? 

3. Give the dates of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hamp- 
shire, and Vermont. Who first settled in New York? When did 
it become an English possession? What was the origin of the 
name, New York? 

4. What other colonies followed? What kind of men were 
the New England colonists? How did they show their regard for 
education? What was the population of these colonies at the 
time of the American Revolution? 

5. What led the French to occupy Canada? What efforts did 
they make to settle it? Describe their progress. Where did 
they come in collision with the English colonists? What was the 
issue of the conflict? 

6. Why did the French fail to settle and hold Canada? Point 
out the weak points in their system of settlement. Mention some 
of their greatest representatives in Canada. 



MAP QUESTIONS. 



Where did the "Pilgrim Fathers" land? Point out, on the 
map, Boston, Salem, Plymouth, New York, Hudson River, States 
of Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, the 
Carolinas, Georgia, Quebec, Montreal. Trace the course of the 
Ohio River. 



74 THE FRENCH IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [1655- 



CHAPTER YIII. 

FROM 1655 TO 1697. 

THE FRENCH IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 

PLACENTIA FOUNDED. FRENCH EFFORTS TO GET POSSES- 
SION OF THE ISLAND. EXPEDITION OF d'iBERVILLE. 

TREATY OF RYSWICK. ITS EFFECT ON NEWFOUND- 
LAND. 

1, The great events referred to in the last chapter 
were closely connected with the history of Newfound- 
land, and greatly influenced the fortunes of the colony. 
In carrying out their plans for founding an empire in 
the New "World, the French statesmen were eager for 
the conquest of Newfoundland. The possession of the 
island they knew would enable them to control the fish- 
eries, and also to command the narrow entrance to the 
St. Lawrence and their possessions in Canada. Hence, 
they never ceased their efforts to obtain a footing in the 
island ; and their presence and encroachments were a 
constant source of annoyance to the English and Irish 
settlers. 

2. In 1635 the French obtained permission from 
England to dry fish on the shores of Newfoundland, on 
payment of a duty of five per cent, on the produce. In 
1660 the French founded Placentia, on the southern 
coast. The entrance to this beautiful and commodious 
harbor is a narrow strait, which they defended by the 
erection of Fort St. Louis, a strong fortification that 
stood at the foot of a rocky height. A French lieuten- 
ant-governor was nominated to take command and re- 




PI.ACENTIA. 



1697.] THE FRENCH IN NEWFOUNDLAND. lb 

side here. In 1675 Charles II. was persuaded by Louis 
XIV. to give up the duty of five per cent, hitherto paid 
as an acknowledgment that the island belonged to Eng- 
land. From this time the French became bolder and 
more determined in extending their settlements, espe- 
cially along the southern shore, where many of the places 
to this day bear the French names given by them. 

3. When war broke out between England and France, 
on the accession of William III. to the throne, one of 
the reasons assigned in the royal declaration of war, 
was that the French had been, of late, making unwarrant- 
able encroachments in Newfoundland. To check these. 
Commodore Williams was despatched, in 1692, with a 
squadron, to seize Placentia. On arriving he found 
that a strong boom had been thrown across the entrance 
of the harbour, and that he had three well-armed forts 
to attack. After a brisk cannonade, he withdrew, find- 
ing the place too strong to be captured with the force 
under his command. 

4. It was now the turn of the French to become the 
assailants ; and their determined efforts to seize New- 
foundland were crowned with a short-lived success. In 
1696 Chevalier Nesmond, a French commander with a 
strong squadron, was ordered to drive ^the English out 
of Newfoundland, and then to destroy Boston and the 
neighbouring settlements. He arrived at Placentia, and 
from thence made a descent on St. John's, which was at 
this time defended by several forts, and held by a garri- 
son. Thirty-four English ships were then lying in the 
harbour. Nesmoud's attack was successfully repulsed, 
and he returned to France without accomplishing any- 
thing. 

5. But the French persevered in their designs of 
conquest. Later in the same year a more formidable 



76 THE FRENCH IN NEWFOUNDLAND. [1655- 

expedition was prepared. There was then in Canada a 
famous captain called D'Iberville (pronounced Dee-hair- 
veel) , who was much employed in harassing the English 
settlements. He had just distinguished himself by his 
skill and bravery in capturing Fort William Henry, 
which had been built by the government of Massachu- 
setts, at Pemaquid, east of the river Kennebec. He was 
then ordered to join Brouillan, Governor of Placentia, 
who had a number of vessels under his command. The 
combined force was to effect the conquest of Newfound- 
land. 

6. Before his arrival, Brouillan had sailed to attack 
Ferrj^land. On his way he met a solitary English man- 
of-war, which he chased into the Bay of Bulls. Captain 
Cleasby was its commander, and he determined to 
defend his vessel to the last. The gallant captain 
placed all his guns on the broadside next the enemy, 
and fought furiously till his vessel took fire, when he 
escaped to the shore. The Frenchmen followed him, 
and he and his men had to surrender. Ferryland was 
then destroyed by Brouillan. D'Iberville now joined 
him, and a strong body of the French advanced through 
the woods, and made an attack on St. John's, in the 
rear. The garyison was feeble, and in want of military 
stores and provisions. They could make but a faint 
resistance, and St. John's was captured and burned. 
The garrison and principal inhabitants were allowed two 
ships to carry them to England. The rest made their 
way to Carbouear and Bonavista. D'Iberville then 
followed up his successes by destrojing all the English 
settlements on the eastern coast. Carbonear, however, 
where the descendants of Guy's settlers had established 
themselves, made a gallant resistance, and beat off the 
enemy. Bonavista, also, was too strong for him, and 



\ 

1697.] THE FRENCH IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 11 

made an equally successful resistance. The whole of 
Newfoundland, with the exception of these two places, 
was now in the hands of the French. 

7. As soon as the news ofvthe loss of Newfoundland 
reached England strong preparations were made for 
driving out the invaders. Before anything effectual 
could be done the war between England and France 
was brought to a close by the treaty of Ryswick, signed 
on the 20th September, 1697. 

8. By the seventh article of this treaty England and 
France agreed"to mutually restore all their possessions 
in North America which had changed hands during the 
war. Thus the French were reinstated in all they had 
lost, and all the bloodshed and sufferings of eight years 
decided nothing as to who should be masters of North 
America. 

9. The treaty, in its effects, was most injurious to 
Newfoundland. It left the island, as at the commence- 
ment of the war, divided between the English and 
French ; so that, if war should be renewed, the English 
settlements were as liable as before to be harassed by 
the attacks of the French. St. John's, and the other set- 
tlements which the French had seized, were given up. 
But their claims on Placentia, and all other positions on 
the south-west coast, were recognized and confirmed. 
The consequence was frequent hostilities and renewed 
efforts on the part of the French to get possession of 
the whole island, so that they werefnot shaken off for 
some years to come. 



78 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 



QUESTIONS rOK EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER VIII. 

1. Why were the French so eager to get possession of New- 
foundland? 

2. What privilege did the French obtain in Newfoundland 
in 1635? When was Placentia founded? What fort was erected? 
AYhat gave the French a greater hold on the island? 

3. Who was sent to check French encroachments, and what 
did he do? 

4. When did Nesmond invade Newfoundland, and what did 
he accomplish? 

5» What orders were given to DTberville? 

6. Describe his movement. What occurred at Bay of Bulls? 
AVliat Avas the fate of St. John's? What two places resisted the 
French? 

7. By what treaty was the war ended, and when? 

8. What were some of its articles ? 

9. How did the treaty of Ryswick injure Newfoundland? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER YHr. 

RysAvick. — A town in Holland, three miles from the Hague. In 
the royal palace here the treaty of peace was signed in 1697. The par- 
ties to it were England, France, Spain, Holland, and Germany. By it 
Louis XrV". acknowledged William HI. lawful king of Great Britain 
and Ireland. 

Placentia, on the bay of that name, on the southern coast, eighty 
miles from St. John's. 

Bay of Bulls, eighteen miles south of St. John's. 



1654.] CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. 79 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM 1654 TO 1720. 

CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. 

SLOW PROGRESS OF THE COLONY. — ITS CAUSE. UNJUST 

LAWS. TYRANNY BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT. THE 

FISHING ADMIRALS. OPPRESSION OF THE WEAK. 

APPOINTMENT OF THE FIRST GOVERNOR, 

1. While the population of the New England colonies 
was increasing- rapidl}', that of Newfoundland made ver}' 

V slow progress, though its settlement was of much earlier 
date. In 1654, seventy-one j^ears after the arrival of 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the island contained a population 
of only 350 families, or about 1,750 persons. These 
were distributed in fifteen small settlements along the 
eastern shore. The principal of them were Torbay, 
Quidi Vidi, St. John's, Bay of Bulls, Ferryland, Renewse, 
Aquaforte. Twenty years later, in 1680, the resident 
population was 2,280. In eighteen years more, these 
had only increased to 2,640, this being their number in 
the year 1698. It must be remembered that, in addition 
to these, there was a large floating population of many 
thousands who frequented the shores during summer, to 
carry on the fisheries, but left for their homes at the 
approach of winter. In 1626 Devonshire alone sent 
150 vessels to the cod-fishery. 

2. But why, it may be asked, was the settlement of 
the island so slow? The climate was healthy, the soil 
repaid cultivation, the fisheries were most productive. 
Out of the many thousands who visited it how came it 



80 CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. [1654- 

that so few took up their permanent abode in the 
island ? 

There was a very sufficient reason for this, which we 
must now explain. So far as the English were con- 
cerned, the fisheries had been carried on by merchants, 
ship-owners, and traders who resided in the west of 
England. They sent out their ships and fishing-crews 
to Newfoundland early in the summer. The fish caught 
were salted and dried ashore. When winter approached 
the fishermen took their departure for England, carrying 
with them whatever portion of the fish had not been 
previously shipped for foreign markets. These English 
" merchant-adventurers," as they were called, found that 
it was for their interest to discourage the settlement of 
the country, as they wished to retain its harbours and 
coves for the use of their own fishing captains and ser- 
vants, while engaged in curing and drying the fish. 
The}^ got, at length, to think that the whole island was 
their own, and that any one who settled there was an 
interloper who should be driven away. They actually 
thought it right to keep an island larger than Ireland in 
a wilderness condition, in order that they might use its 
shores for drying their fish, and enjoy, in their own 
country, all the riches thus gathered. 

3. But, in spite of all their efforts, a few hardy, ad- 
venturous persons began to form little settlements along 
the shores. The island had strong attractions for them, 
and they wanted to make homes for themselves, and 
combine cultivation of the land with fishing. The fish- 
ing-merchants and ship-owners took the alarm, and went 
to war with these settlers, determined to root them out, 
or, at all events, to keep their numbers as small as pos- 
sible. Being wealthy capitalists they had great influ- 
ence with the successive English governments of those 



1729.] CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. 81 

days, while the poor settlers had none. They were able 
to persuade the English statesmen and people that the 
fisheries would be ruined if a resident population should 
be allowed to grow up in the island, and the fisheries 
would no longer be a nursery of seamen for the navy. 
Further, they misled the public by representing the 
island as hopelessly barren, and, in regard to its soil and 
climate, unfit for human habitation. 

4. In this way it came about that unjust and inju- 
rious laws were enacted by the English government, to 
prevent the settlement of the island, and to keep it for- 
ever in the degraded condition of a stage for drying fish. 
These laws forbade any one to go to Newfoundland as a 
settler, and ordained that all fishermen should return to 
England at the close of each fishing season. Masters 
of vessels were compelled to give bonds of £100, bind- 
ing them to bring back each year such persons as they 
took out. Settlement within six miles of the coast was 
prohibited under heavy penalties. No one could culti- 
vate or enclose the smallest piece of ground, or even 
repair a house, without license, which was rarely granted. 
This oppressive policy was maintained for more than 
a hundred years. 

5. Notwithstanding these hardships and discourage- 
ments the sturdy settlers held their ground, and slowly 
but steadily increased in numbers. Between them and 
their oppressors a bitter antipathy sprang up, and it is not 
wonderful that it should have been so. There must have 
been among these settlers a manly, independent spirit. 
Had there not been among them men possessing much 
vigour of character and solid worth, they could not have 
carried on the contest so bravely against the fishing capi- 
talists, and at last conquered them, and won their free- 
dom. The conflict, however, was ver}^ trying, and 



82 CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. [1654- 

greatly retarded the progress of the colony, entailing- 
terrible sufferings on men who were kept outside the 
pale of law, and without any civilizing influences. 
Finding their own fishery declining, while that carried 
on by the settlers was increasing, in 1670, the merchant- 
adventurers applied to the Lords of Trade and Planta- 
tions, and declared that unless the settlers were removed 
the fisheries would be destroyed. These Lords of Trade 
immediately sent out Sir John Berry, a naval oflftcer, 
with ordei's to drive out the fishermen and burn their 
dwellings. 

6. This barbarous edict was not revoked for six years. 
Though it was not strictly carried into effect, owing to 
the humane spiiit of Sir John Berry, yet it gave the 
mercantile monopolists such an advantage that, soon 
after, they had 270 vessels and 11,000 men engaged in 
the fisheries. When the decree to burn and drive away 
was recalled, strict orders were given that no further 
emigration to the doomed island should be allowed. At 
length the Lords of Trade relaxed so far as to allow 
one thousand persons to reside in Newfoundland, as 
they might be useful in building boats and fishing stages, 
and taking care of property. The repressive policy 
reached its height when a certain Major Elford, lieu- 
tenant-governor at St. John's, very strongly urged the 
ministers of the day " to allow no woman to land in 
the island, and that means should be adopted to remove 
those who were there." It does not appear that any 
one tried to carry out this sweeping proposal. 

7. As years rolled on, though the settlers were in- 
creasing in numbers and importance, they were as much 
as ever at the tender mercies of the merchants. One 
of the enactments of the notable Star Chamber, in the 
reign of Charles I., was, that if a person in Newfound- 



1729.] CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. 83 

land killed another, or stole the value of forty shillings, 
the offender was to be sent to England, and, on convic- 
tion of eitlier offence, to be hanged. Anotlier law was 
that the master of the first ship entering a harbour was 
to be admiral for the season, and magistrate of the dis- 
trict, witli unlimited power to decide all questions re- 
garding property and all other disputes. Thus arose 
government by the "Fishing Admirals, perhaps the most 
absurd and tyrannical pretence at the administration 
of justice ever put in practice. 

8. In 1698, in the reign of William III., this arrange- 
ment was confirmed and extended in an act passed by 
the British parliament. In this statute, which long 
obstructed all improvement in the country, it was or- 
dained that the master of a vessel arriving first in a 
harbour was to be admiral for the season, and was 
allowed to take as much of the beach as he chose, for 
his own use. The masters of the second and third 
vessels arriving at the same harbour were to be vice- 
admiral and rear-admiral, with similar privileges. No 
attention was paid to the qualifications of these admirals. 
The first rude, ignorant skipper who made a short 
passage was absolute ruler for the season. They were 
the servants of tlie merchants, and therefore personally 
interested in questions of property that arose. They 
were the enemies of the poor residents, whom they wanted 
to trample out. 

9. The triumph of the merchants over their fellow- 
subjects in this lone isle was now as complete as that 
of a warrior who storms a city. Their servants, the 
Fishing Admirals, took possession of the best fishiug- 
stations, drove out the inhabitants from their own 
houses, gardens, and fishing-grounds ; took bribes when 
determining cases, and carried on, for Ions,- years, a sys- 



84 CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. [1654- 

tem of robbery and oppression. All accounts agree in 
representing them as at once knaves and t^^rants, 
though no doubt there were individual exceptions. 

10. In vain did the resident people, groaning under 
the lash of these petty tyrants, petition the Lords of 
Trade, and lay before them their grievances. The 
merchants were able to get their petitions thrown aside 
with contempt. Again and again they asked for the 
appointment of a governor to regulate the affairs of 
the island. That, of all others, was a measure the mer- 
chants and ship-owners dreaded. It might disturb their 
pleasant monopoly, and weaken their control over the 
fisheries. A governor might take the part of the set- 
tlers ; and they stoutly resisted his appointment. What 
they wanted was, as one of their own party expressed 
it, " that Newfoundland should always be considered 
as a great English ship, moored near the Banks, during 
the fishing season, for the convenience of English fisher- 
men." 

11, During this hard struggle the lot of these poor 
fishermen must have been very bitter. It is not won- 
derful to find that numbers of them, utterly disheart- 
ened, escaped to America, and there aided materially 
in building up the New England fisheries. In their 
little wooden hamlets, sprinkled along the sea-margin, 
their outlook was dreary enough. They had but a bare 
subsistence. They had no schools for their children , and 
no ministers of religion among them. All around were 
the dense woods, extending to the sea-shore, with a few 
paths cut through them. Before them was the great 
ocean, from which alone they were permitted to draw 
their means of subsistence. Their treatment was so 
harsh that if, in these days, the inmates of a prison or a 
workhouse were to be treated in like fashion, the public 



1T29.] CONDITION OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. 85 

would raise a skout of indiguation. How could tliey 
advance in any of the arts of civilized life ? They still 
held on, however ; and, conscious that they had right on 
their side, they courageously resisted their selfish op- 
pressors. The day of deliverance at last dawned. The 
British government at length found out that they had 
been mi^d and deceived by the representations of in- 
terested, selfish men, both in regard to the country and 
its fisheries. Restrictions on the settlement of the isl- 
and were slowly removed one after another. The 
obnoxious statute of William III. was, however, left un- 
repealed, and greatly hindered improvements. It was 
not till less than eighty years ago that the last of these 
unjust laws was repealed, and people were allowed to 
possess land and build houses, and take some steps tow- 
ards self-government. 

12. The change for the better was brought about by 
the commodores and captains of the royal ships, which 
were periodically appointed to this station. They saw 
the terrible injustice which was inflicted on a patient, 
inoffensive people. One of them, named Lord Vere 
Beauclerk, a clear-headed, benevolent nobleman, made 
such strong representations to the Board of Trade that 
they appointed Capt. Henry Osborne to be the first 
governor of Newfoundland. The merchants protested 
against the appointment, but in vain. The new gov- 
ernor arrived in 1729. 

13. A new era now began. Newfoundland, for the 
first time, was recognized as a British Colony. Though 
the Fishinoj Admirals were not abolished till lower after- 
wards, they were now under control, and their power 
was more limited. The sufferings of the people were 
not ended, but they were diminished. The naval gov- 
ernment of the island, under admirals and captains of 



S6 qui: sr IONS for examination. 

the British navy, now began, and was continued for 
many years. It was far from being the most desirable 
way of governing a colony ; but it was a great improve- 
ment on anything yet enjoyed. The new system at 
least prepared the way for a local civil government, and 
finally for political freedom. In 1729, when the first 
governor arrived, the resident population had'grown to 
be six thousand strong. 

14:. Whatever may have been the wrongs infiicted 
on the early settlers, we should clearly understand that 
no man or body of men, now living, should be held 
accounta])le for what was done in those distant days. 
The injustice of former ages has happily been rectified. 
The merchants and capitalists of to-day are men of a 
very different spirit and are in a very different position 
from those who once carried On the fisheries from 
England. They have no connection with old oppressions. 
Between them and the people of to-day the relations are 
cordial and friendly. Both can now unite for the ad- 
vancement of their common country. Resentments and 
animosities between the two classes are, happily, things 
of the past. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER IX. 

1. Give the population of Newfoundland in 1654; 1680; 1698. 
Did many come from England annually ? 

2. How did English merchants carry on the fishery? Wl)\' 
did they oppose the settlement of the island? In what state did 
they Avish it kept? 

3. How did the merchants persuade the English government 
to prevent people from settling? 

4' What did the unjust laws forbid in order to prevent settle- 
ment? How long did these laws continue in force? 

5. Did any persons make homes for themselves? What 
shows their vigour of character? What hardships had they to 



NO TBS AND EXPLANATIONS. 87 

endure? What order was issued in 1670? By whom? Who was 
to carry it out? 

6. What prevented its full operation? How long was it till 
its revocation? What advantage did the merchants gain ? What 
compromise was allowed? What proposal about women was after- 
wards issued? 

7. Mention one of the laws about criminals in the reign of 
Charles I. How did the authority of the Fishing Admirals 
arise? 

8. What did the Act of William III. establish? Why was 
the arrangement unjust? 

9. How did the Eishing Admirals behave? What was their 
character? 

10. Describe the sufferings of the resident population. 
What did they ask for? Why did the merchants oppose a gov- 
ernor? What use did they want to make of the island? 

11. What was the condition of the settlers? What did the 
British government at length discover? What was done? 

12. How did the change for the better come about? Who 
was the first governor, and what the date of his appointment? 

13. Were the Fishing Admirals abolished? What was the 
benefit of the new government? 

14. Is any one now living to be held accountable for the 
wrongs of the past? 



MAP QUESTIONS. — CHAPTERS VIII. AND IX. 

Where is Placentia? Bay of Bulls? Carbonear? Bonavista? 
Describe the position of Ryswick. (See note, Chapter VIII.) 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. —CHAPTER IX. 

Lords of Trade and Plantations. — This Board was created to 
take charge of the colonies in America, but was of no service to them. 
In one of his speeches in the House of Commons, Burke said of it : 
" This Board is a sort of temperate bed of influence, — a sort of gently- 
ripening hot-house, — where eight members of Parliament receive sala- 
ries of a thousand a year for a given time, in order to mature, at a 
proper season, a claim to two thousand, granted for doing less, and on 



88 CHRONOLOGY. 



the credit of having toiled so long- in the inferior laborious department." 
" It is a Board which, if no^ mischievous^ is of no use at all." 

This Board issued the inhuman order to Sir John Berry to burn the 
houses of the residents in Newfoundland and drive out the settlers. In 
1676, six years after, John Downing, a resident, by his strong appeals, 
succeeded in procuring an order from the king to annul it. Sir Joshua 
Childs, the principal merchant connected with the fisheries in England, 
was the means of procuring this barbarous edict from the Lords of Trade. 
He must have realized much wealth from the fisheries, for, when his 
daughter married the eldest son of the Duke of Beaufort, he gave her a 
portion of £50,000. He had fish-ponds in Epping Forest, '* many miles in 
circuit." He was also engaged in the East India trade. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY. —FROM 1600 TO 1700. 

A.D. 

1593. Richard Apsham's expedition to Newfoundland. 

1603. James I., King of England. 

1607. Jamestown founded in Virginia. 

1608. Quebec founded by Champlain. 

1609. Hudson River discovered by Henry Hudson. 

1610. Guy's settlement in Conception Bay. 

1613. Eirst child of European parents born in Newfoundland. 
1615. Whitbourne's commission to Newfoundland. 
1618. Sir Walter Raleigh beheaded. 
1620. Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England. 
1623. Sir George Calvert's patent for colonization of Newfound- 
land. 
1625. Charles L, King of England. 
1630. Arrival of first Irish settlers in Newfoundland. 
1636. Rhode Island Colony founded. 
1638. Sir David Kirk's patent in Newfoundland. 
Connecticut founded. 

1641. Montreal founded by the Jesuit Fathers. 

1642. Civil War in England between Charles I. and the Parlia- 

ment. 

1643. Louis XIV., King of France. 
Union of the New England Colonies. 

1645. Battle of Naseby. — Close of the Civil War. 
1649. Execution of Charles I. 



EMINENT PERSONS. 89 

1658. Death of Cromwell. 

1660. Placentla founded by the French. 

Charles II. , King of England. 
1665. Great Plague of London. 

1670. Sir John Berry ordered to destroy settlements in New- 
foundland. 
1673. Marquette and Joliet's discovery of the Mississippi. 
1679. Habeas-corpus Act. 
1685. James II., King of England. 

1688. English Revolution, — Expulsion of the Stuarts. 

1689. William III. and Mary, Sovereigns of England. 

1696. Nesmond's Repulse at St. John's, Newfoundland. 
First capture of St. John's by the French. 

1697. Treaty of Ryswick. 



EMINENT PERSONS FROM 1600 TO 1700. 

Ben Jonson ; Massinger ; Jeremy Taylor ; Milton ; Locke ; 
Moliere; Kepler; Sir Isaac Newion ; Turenne ; Bayle ; Dryden ; 
Bunyan ; Reubens ; Vandyke ; Inigo Jones ; Sir Christopher 
Wren. 



90 EFFORTS TO CONQUER NEWFOUNDLAND. [1697- 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM 169T TO 1T54. 

RENEWED EFFORTS OF THE FRENCH TO CONQUER 
NE WFO UNDLAND. 

TREATY OF UTRECHT. DISPUTES CONNECTED WITH IT. 

CONFLICT BETWEEN THE GOVERNORS AND FISHING 
ADMIRALS. — COMMISSION OF OYER AND TERMINER. 

1. We must now take up the history of the island 
from the treaty of Rysvvick, in 1697. The thirty years 
which followed constituted the darkest and dreariest 
period in the experience of the oppressed settlers. 
Their difficulties and sufferings were such that it seems 
marvellous that they were not driven to settle in some 
more favorable region, and to abandon in despair the 
effort to make homes for themselves in Newfoundland. 

2. The peace between England and France, secured 
by the treaty of Rj^swick, was of short duration. In 
1702, in the commencement of Queen Anne's reign, war 
recommenced. The French were strongly established in 
Placentia and other places along the southern shore. 
From these centres they carried on their fisheries round 
the island, and greatly interfered with the English and 
resident fishermen. Captain Leake, a distinguished 
naval officer, was sent to check their encroachments. 
He destroyed several of their settlements on the southern 
shore, and dismantled their fortifications at the Island 
of St. Pierre ; but he left them still in possession of 
their chief stronghold, Placentia. An unsuccessful 
attempt was made to reduce this place in the following 



1754.] EFFORTS TO CONQUEB NEWFOUNDLAND. 91 

year. Then the French became bolder and more con- 
fident, and at length determined to seize the whole 
island. They attacked St. John's, but were there re- 
pulsed. Then they assailed the smaller settlements, burn- 
ing and destroying, inflicting great miseries on the 
people and carrying off a number of them as prisoners. 
Under the protection of their war- vessels, they carried 
on their fisheries in the northern harbours. A force was 
organized in St. John's which made a successful raid 
upon these French war-ships and captured six out of 
ten of them. Two years after, in 1708, the French, in 
the middle of winter, despatched a force from Placentia, 
which landed within fifteen miles of St. John's, marched 
overland, surprised the unprepared garrison, and capt- 
ured the place. Then they assailed Carbonear ; but 
once more, the brave defenders beat off the French. 
Newfoundland was now, for a time, lost to the British 
empire. 

3, But if the arms of France were successful in these 
petty conflicts the}^ sustained terrible reverses on the 
continent of Europe. In four great battles, the famous 
English commander, the Duke of Marlborough, so 
shattered the military power of France, that Louis XIV. 
was glad to accept terms of peace on terms very disad- 
vantageous to himself. This war was brought to a 
close by the celebrated treaty of Utrecht (pronounced 
O-o-treM) , which marks a very important era in the history 
of Newfoundland. By the provisions of this treaty the 
French agreed to surrender all their possessions in New- 
foundland and the adjacent islands, and to retire from 
Placentia. Thus the sovereignty of the whole island 
was secured to England. 

4. But, though the French had no longer any territo- 
rial rights, unfortunately for the peace and prosperity 



92 EFFORTS TO CONQUER NEWFOUNDLAND. [1697- 

of the colony this treaty gave them the right of fishing 
and curing fish on the western and northern shores of 
the island. Thus the people were doomed still to be 
hindered in their industrial labours by the presence of 
the French, when it would have been an easy matter, in 
drawing up the treaty, to get rid of them entireh', and 
make the island truly an undivided possession of Eng- 
land. The privilege thus given to the French has led 
to disputes, which are not settled to this day. The 
French have ever since tried to maintain that the treaty 
gave them the sole right of fishing along a certain part 
of the coast, and therefore that Newfoundland fisher- 
men had no right to fish in these waters. On the other 
hand, Newfoundland denies that any such exclusive right 
was given by the treaty, and holds that her people have 
a right to fish concurrently, or side by side with the 
French, so long as the}^ do not interrupt their fishing 
operations. 

5. England has never admitted the exclusive right of 
the French to these fisheries. In order, however, to 
preserve peace, she has discouraged Newfoundland fish- 
ermen from going on this portion of the coast, leaving 
the whole question unsettled from generation to gen- 
eration. The consequences have been most injurious to 
Newfoundland. Her people have been virtuallj^ ex- 
cluded from the best portion of the island, which has been 
left in a wilderness state ; and the}^ could neither prose- 
cute the fisheries there, nor settle the lands, or carry on 
mining or other industries. 

6. In spite of all these difl8.culties people began to 
settle on that portion of the coast where the French 
had these fishing-privileges. They continued to in- 
crease, year after year, and at length numbered nearly 
nine thousand persons. They were without laws or 



1754.] EFFORTS TO GONQUEB NEWFOUNDLAND. 93 

magistrates ; without roads, schools, or any civilizing in- 
fluences. At last the condition of these outlaws could 
no longer be overlooked. The British government, only 
so lately as 1878, permitted magistrates to be appointed, 
and custom-houses built. Four 3- ears later they allowed 
the local government to issue grants of land and licenses 
for mining. They also permitted the people to elect 
two representatives to the House of Assembly. Thus 
the shadowy claims of the French to control the land 
were forever set aside. This was a most important step, 
as it incorporated this region with the rest of the island, 
and placed it under the jurisdiction of the local govern- 
ment, giving the people the rights of citizens. The 
onty question now awaiting settlement has reference to 
the "exclusive" and "concurrent" right. There is 
reason to hope that this too will be satisfactorily ar- 
ranged. Then " the French Shore Question," as it is 
called, will be finally disposed of. 

7. We saw, at the close of last chapter, how the 
British government, in 1729, at length appointed a 
governor of the island in the person of Captain Henry 
Osborne. This step greatly alarmed the merchants, 
lest it might interfere with their profitable and uncon- 
trolled dominion over the people and the fisheries. 
Accordingly, they set themselves vigorously to work 
to counteract the measure, and to prevent any lawful 
authority from taking root in the country. They con- 
tinued to support the tyrannical jurisdiction of the de- 
tested Fishing Admirals, and refused to recognize the 
newly appointed authority. 

8. Captain Osborne, on his arrival, proceeded to 
divide the island into districts, and appoint justices of 
the peace, selected from the best classes of the people, 
with constables under them. The Fishing Admirals 



94 EFFORTS TO CONQUER NEWFOUNDLAND. [1697- 

fiercelj' opposed the exercise of authoritj' b}- these jus- 
tices, and declared their appointment was illegal. The}' 
told the people the justices were usurpers, and endeav- 
oured to bring them into contempt. 

9. Unfortunately, the new system had been intro- 
duced by "an order in Council," whereas the Fishing 
Admirals claimed that they had been appointed by an 
Act of Parliament, and, therefore, had superior au- 
thority. The conflict between the two went on for 
nearly fifty years, the governors sustaining the justices, 
and the West Country merchants backing the Fishing 
Admirals. The good effects of the appointment of a 
governor were thus greatly impeded. Besides, he onl}^ 
resided in the colony about three or four months in each 
year, returning to England in October. It was not till 
1818 that a resident governor was appointed. 

10, Thus, for another half century the people had 
to suffer under cruel misrule. It was then, indeed, no 
longer illegal to settle in the country ; but still no per- 
mission was yet given to cultivate the soil, and no stage 
could be erected for handling fish by the residents till 
their lords and masters from England had been accom- 
modated. Besides, the fishermen were so poor that they 
had to obtain advances in provisions and clothing, at 
very high prices, at the beginning of each fishing-season, 
and at the close to pay for them in fish, the price of 
which was fixed by the supplier. Thus arose the 
"supplying system," which kept the fishermen con- 
stantly in debt and dependence. The adherents of the 
old system never ceased their attacks on the new, and 
were constantly petitioning the home authorities to have 
it altered or extinguished. But the British government 
were firm in their refusal to withdraw the small measure 
of civil government granted to the colony. The right 



1754.] QUESTION'S FOR EXAMINATION. 95 

prevailed. Slowly, and step by step, improvements 
came. The resident population increased in numbers 
and influence. The Fishing Admirals and their sup- 
porters saw it was useless to continue the conflict, and 
at length they and their claims to authority fell into well- 
merited contempt, and passed into oblivion. 

11. The year 1750 witnessed another important step 
in the extension of civil government in the Island. 
Hitherto all criminals had to be sent to England for 
trial. Witnesses had also to proceed there, at great ex- 
pense and inconvenience. Justice was often defeated, 
and great hardships endured. Successive governors 
had pointed out this evil. At length, in 1750, Captain 
Drake, the governor, was authorized to establish a 
court in which all criminal cases could be tried within 
the bounds of the colony. Those who presided in this 
court were called "Commissioners of Oyer and Ter- 
miner." 

12. In 1754 the representative of the Baltimore 
family presented a claim to be put in possession of the 
province of Avalon, on the strength of the original 
grant of 1623, to the first Lord Baltimore. The appli- 
cation was rejected by the law officers of the Crown, 
on the ground that the Baltimore family had not held 
possession for 130 years, and that later grants had set 
their claim aside. No more was heard of the matter. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXA.MINATION ON CHAPTER X. 

1 , "What was the condition of the resident people for thirty- 
years after the treaty of Ryswick? 

2. When did war recommence? Where were the French 
established in the island? Who was sent to remove them, and 
what did he do? Describe the movements of the French. What 
did war-ships from St. John's accomplish at the North ? When 



96 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. . 

was St. John's taken the second time by the French, and how? 
What of Carbonear? 

3. What led to the treaty of Utrecht? What were its pro- 
visions as regards Newfoundland? 

4. What fishing privileges did the French acquire by the 
treaty of Utrecht? What have been the injurious effects of 
giving the French such privileges? What do the French claim 
by this treaty? What is the view of Newfoundland on this point? 

5. AVhat has England done in connection with these privi- 
leges? What injury has the colony suffered? 

6. In what state were people living on the so-called " French 
Shore"? When were magistrates first appointed there? When 
were the people there allowed to send representatives? When 
were land grants allowed? What important change is thus made? 

7. Who supported the Fishing Admirals against the governors ? 

8. What improvements did Captain Osborne effect? 

9. What advantage had the Fishing Admirals in the contest? 
How long did it last? Did governors live in the island? When 
was the first resident governor appointed? 

10. Describe the condition of the people at this time. How 
did the " supplying system " arise? What were its effects? What 
was the end of the Fishing Admirals? 

11. What great improvement came in 1750? 

12. What claim did the Baltimore family make? AVhy was 
it refused? 



MAP QUESTIONS. 



Describe the position of the island of St. Pierre. Of Utrecht 
(see note). On what part of the coast have the French fishing- 
privileges in Newfoundland? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER X. 

French Claims. — Lord Palmerston's note to Count Sebastiani, 
the French ambassador, in 1838, on the subject of the French claims to 
an exclusive fishing right in Newfoundland, may be regarded as conclu- 
sive. In it lie says : " The British Government has never understood the 
declaration to have had for its object to deprive the British subjects of 
the right to participate with the French in taking fish at sea off that 
coast, provided they did so without interrupting the French cod-fishery." 



CHRONOLOGY. 97 



He further states that in no pubhc document or Act of Parliament " does 
it appear that the right of French subjects to an exckisive fishery, either 
of codfish or fish generally, is specifically recognized." 

Utrecht is the capital of the Dutch province of that name, which lies 
between Holland, Gelderland, and the Zuyder-Zee. The city is divided 
into two parts by the Rhine. At the British minister's house in Utrecht, 
in 1713, was signed the treaty which ended " the War of the Spanish 
Succession," oi", as it is called in America, " Queen Anne's War." The 
Duke of Marlborough's great victories were Blenheim (1704); Ramilies 
(1706); Oudenarde (1708); Malplaquet (1709). 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY, 1700 TO 1760. 

A.D. 

1702. Anne Queen of England. 

1704. Gibraltar taken by the English. 
Battle of Blenheim. 

1707. Union of English and Scottish Parliaments. 

1708. Second Capture of St. John's by the French. 

1713. Treaty of Utrecht. 

1714. George I. , King of England. 

1715. Louis XV., King of France. 
1725. Death of Peter the Great. 
1727. George II., King of England. 

1729. Captain Henry Osborne first governor of Newfoundland. 

1733. Colony of Georgia founded. 

1745. Louisburg taken by the English under Pepperel and Warren. 

1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle ; Louisburg restored to the French. 

1750. Court of Oyer and Terminer established in Newfoundland. 

1759. Quebec taken by Wolfe. 

1760. George III., King of England. 



EMINENT PERSONS, FROM 1700 TO 1760. 

Sir Robert Walpole ; William Pitt ; Swift ; Pope ; Hume ; De- 
foe ; Gibbon ; Voltaire ; Rousseau ; Montesquieu ; Franklin ; Maria 
Theresa Wesley; Whitfield; Johnson; Goldsmith; Franklin,- 
Wolfe. 



98 ''THE SEVEN YEARS' WARr [1756- 



CHAPTER XI. 

FROM 1736 TO 1775. 

" THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR." 
CAPITULATION OF LOUISBURG AND QUEBEC. CAPTURE OF 

ST. John's by the trench. — their expulsion. — 

TREATY OF PARIS. LABRADOR ADDED TO NEW- 
FOUNDLAND. — INTRODUCTION OF CUSTOMS AND THE 

NAVIGATION LAWS. RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN 

NEWFOUNDLAND. 

1. The final struggle between England and France 
for the control of North America commenced in 1756. 
The contest is known as " The Seven Years' War." War- 
like operations on both sides began on sea and land ; 
but the chief battle-ground was America. William Pitt, 
" the Great Commoner," as he was called, assumed the 
guidance of affairs, as Prime Minister of England. He 
began the campaign by an expedition against Louisburg, 
in Cape Breton, a strong fortress held by France. The 
military command of this expedition was given to Colonel 
Jeffrey Amherst, Colonel James Wolfe being second in 
command, and Admiral Boscawen commander of the 
fleet. Louisburg was captured, and two years after- 
wards the fortifications of that formidable fortress were 
razed to tlie ground. The crowning expedition, in 1759, 
was directed against Quebec. Wolfe, who had greatly 
distinguished himself for bravery and skill at the siege 
of Louisburg, was placed in supreme command. Que- 
bec fell, and Wolfe " died happy," in the moment of 
victory, on the Plains of Abraham. The power of 
France in the New AYorld was completely broken. 



1775.] ''THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR." 99 

The whole of North America passed into the possession 
of the British crown. 

2. Though the French had now lost the magnificent 
colony of Canada, they still clung most tenaciously to 
the idea of conquering and holding Newfoundland. 
They knew its value, in connection with the prosecution 
of their fisheries, which they still looked to as the great 
training-school for their seamen. Accordingly, in 1762, 
they resolved on another expedition for the conquest of 
the island. A strong naval squadron was collected at 
Brest, and on the 24th of June, it arrived at the Bay of 
Bulls. Here a force was landed, which marched over- 
land, and surprised and overpowered the small garrison at 
St. John's, consisting of but sixty-three men. The French 
then proceeded to strengthen the fortifications. Their 
fleet anchored in the harbour. They succeeded, soon 
after, in capturing Carbonear and Trinity, and devastated 
the trade and fisheries, inflicting great sufferings on the 
people. 

Captain Graves, the Governor, was then on his way 
out from England to the island. On the Banks he was 
met by a sloop which informed him of the capture of 
St. John's. By this vessel he immediately sent de- 
spatches to Lord Colville, commander at Halifax, who at 
once sailed with a strong naval force, and blockaded the 
harbour of St. John's, where the French fleet lay. 

3. Meantime Governor Graves landed at Placentia, 
and proceeded to put the fortifications, which were in a 
ruinous state, in a proper condition of defence. Lord 
Colville was speedily joined by Colonel Amherst, with 
800 Highlanders, from Louisburg. These troops were 
landed at Torbay, six miles north of St, John's, under a 
heavy fire from the French. They advanced on the 
capital, over hills and very difficult ground, suffering 



100 ''THE SEVEN YEARS WAR:' [1756- 

from a continual bush-fire from the French, who had 
taken to the woods. The gallant Highlanders then 
rushed on the strong post of Quidi Vidi, which they car- 
ried, sword in hand. Signal Hill, a lofty eminence 
overlooking the harbour, was held by the French, in con- 
siderable force. Led by Captain Macdonald, the High- 
landers charged up the rugged heights, in the face of a 
heavy fire from the enemy ; and the hill was taken by 
storm. The brave leader and his lieutenant both fell 
mortally wounded. Four men were killed, in the final 
assault, and eighteen wounded. In all, the English lost 
twenty men. 

4. The French fleet were now shut in the harbour by 
Colville's blockading squadron, and their surrender 
seemed inevitable. But, at this critical time, a storm 
arose, which drove off the English ships. Taking ad- 
vantage of this, and favoured b}^ a fog, the French fleet 
put to sea, and escaped. The garrisoji, after a brief 
struggle, surrendered, on condition that the troops 
should be conveyed to France. Thus ended the last 
serious attempt on the part of the French to gain pos- 
session of Newfoundland. 

5. The year in which the French were thus both 
triumphant and defeated at St. John's witnessed the 
close of " the Seven Years' War," by the treaty of Paris, 
in 1763. By this treaty England gained a totality of 
empire in North America, extending from Hudson's 
Bay to the mouth of the Mississippi. France renounced 
all claims to Canada, Acadia, Cape Breton, and New- 
foundland. Unfortunately, however, this treaty con- 
firmed and extended the French fishing privileges in 
Newfoundland, which had been secured by the treaty of 
Utrecht. The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, at the 
mo u til of Fortune Bav, were transferred to France, as 



1775.] ''THE SEVEN YEARS WAR." 101 

a shelter for her fishermen, on condition that no fortifi- 
cations were to be erected, and that only a guard of fifty 
men, for police purposes, should be maintained there. 
This grant greatly strengthened the hold of the French 
on the island, in connection with their fisheries, and led 
to perpetual jealousies and discords, greatly retarding 
the progress of the country. 

6. In order to establish at Labrador a free fishery, 
open to all British subjects, the whole of its extensive 
coast was placed under the care of the Governor of 
Newfoundland, whose title, henceforth, was to be " Gov- 
ernor and Commander-in-chief in and over the island of 
Newfoundland, and of all the coast of Labrador, from 
the entrance of Hudson's Bay to the river of St. John's, 
opposite the island of Anticosti." This addition con- 
ferred increased importance on the government of the 
colony, and led its people, in after years, to prosecute 
the valuable fisheries at Labrador, where, at the present 
time, one-third of all the codfish exported is taken. 

7. Another important step in advance was taken in 
1764. On the representation of the Board of Trade a 
collector and controller of customs for Newfoundland 
was appointed, and the navigation laws were extended 
to the island, which was now formally declared to be 
" one of His Majesty's Plantations" or colonies. This 
was a fatal blow to the old S3'stem, by which it was 
kept merely as a fishing-station for the benefit of a few 
monopolists. 

8. A census was taken, at the close of 1763, from 
which it appeared that the population of the island num- 
bered 13,112. Of these, 7,500 were constant residents 
in the island, of whom 4,795 were Roman Catholics, and 
2,705 were Protestants. The cod-fishery was in a thriv- 
ing condition, 386,274 quintals of cod having been made 



102 ''THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR." [1756- 

1 

that year, of which two-thirds were caught and cured by 
the resident portion of the population, who were gradu- 
ally getting the upper hand in carrying on the fisheries. 
Besides, 694 tierces of salmon and 1,598 tons of oil were 
exported; and 371 vessels carried on the trade with the 
mother-country and the New England colonies. The 
intercourse with Ireland was, at this time, considerable. 
Numbers of Irish emigrants came out as settlers, and 
large quantities of fish were sent to Cork, Waterford, 
and Belfast, the vessels bringing return cargoes of pro- 
visions. In 1765 the export of cod was 493,654 quin- 
tals, being an increase of 145,360 quintals in two years. 
There was, of course, a corresponding increase in the 
wealth and general comforts of the people. 

9. But, though improvements were thus slowly making 
way, the social condition of the people was still deplorable. 
The administration of justice, especially in the outlying- 
settlements, was very defective. The magistrates were 
often ignorant, incompetent men, who were grosslj' 
partial in their decisions, and at times open to bribery. 
The high charges by employers for advances in food 
and clothing, at the commencement of the fishing season, 
often left little at the close to enable the poor fishermen 
to provide necessaries during the long winter. Too 
often the fishermen found themselves in debt when the 
season's work was over. Tempted by want, some of 
these were guilty of acts of violence or theft ; others fled 
to New England to escape the miseries of their con- 
dition. As yet no one could own any portion of the 
land for purposes of cultivation ; and if any one enclosed 
a plot of ground it was lawful for any other who chose 
to take down such fences and enclosures. The stormy 
ocean alone was free to the people ; and on its uncertain 
harvests they had to subsist. The wealth won by their 



1T75.] ''THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR." 103 

toil did not remain in the island, but went to enrich 
other countries. We must admire the spirit and energy 
of a people who, amid these hardships and tyrannies, 
continued to cling to the soil, and bravely pioneered 
the way for happier generations. 

10. But at this time another bitter and shameful 
ingredient was added to their social oppressions. Relig- 
ious intolerance and persecution broke out, and for over 
thirty years continued to exert a baneful influence on 
society, and to sow the seeds of bitterness and strife. 
The objects of this intolerance were the adherents of the 
Roman Catholic faith, and those who subjected them to 
persecution were the ruling authorities of the colony, 
who then wielded despotic power. We, who live in hap- 
pier and more enlightened days, now look back with 
sorrow and shame upon these deeds of intolerance which 
we see to have been wrong and unjust. The intercourse 
with Ireland had led to the settlement in Newfound- 
land of numbers of Irish, and these were constantly 
increasing. Some of them had fled from the oppression 
of penal laws in their own land ; but the exiles met the 
same spirit of intolerance in this distant colon}-. The 
successive governors appear to have regarded these 
Irish emigrants with dislike and distrust ; and, in order 
to discourage their coming, and to lessen their numbers, 
laws were enacted to prevent them from enjoying the 
exercise of their religious worship. Priests could only 
enter the country in disguise ; and, if discovered when 
engaged in the administration of the rites of their relig- 
ion, were liable to be arrested. Masters of ships were 
ordered to carry back such Irish passengers as they 
brought out, at the close of each fishing season. These 
harsh and unjust regulations continued to be enforced 
by successive governors. As usual, persecution failed 



104 ''THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR:' [1756-1775. 

to accomplish its object. Emigrants continued to arrive 
from Ireland in spite of tlie disabilities under which the 
adherents of Catholicism laboured. Their clergy fol- 
lowed them in disguise, and secretly ministered to their 
flocks. At length a better spirit prevailed. In 1784 a 
ro3'al proclamation ended forever religious persecution. 
Liberty of conscience was granted, and the free exercise 
of their modes of worship was secured to Roman Catholics. 

11. In judging of these errors of the past let us re- 
member that the principles of religious freedom are of 
very slow growth, and even yet are far from being fully 
recognized in many Christian countries. When these 
persecutions were going on in Newfoundland the spirit 
of intolerance was strong in England, and religious 
freedom was neither understood nor practised. The 
very men who were most conscientious in maintaining 
their own religious views were often the most zealous in 
putting down all who differed from them. Very few 
had }'et learned to acknowledge the great principle that 
men have a right to worship God according to the way 
they believe to be best. Some claimed toleration for 
themselves, but were unable to discover that people who 
differed from them were as truly entitled to be tolerated 
as they themselves were. 

12. Our condemnation of these acts of intolerance in 
the past should be mingled with pity for those who were 
so blinded as to be guilty of them. Those who now en- 
joy a clearer light should never lose sight of the great 
truth that men should be free to hold their own religious 
views, and to worship in the way which their consciences 
approve. If this be acted on, harmony, kindness, and 
mutual good-will among all classes of worshippers will 
prevail, and sectarian strifes and persecutions will be 
unknown. 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 105 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER XI. 

1. When did the Seven Years' War begin? Where was the 
chief battle-ground? Who was then Prime Minister in England? 
When was Louisburg taken? Who captured Quebec? What 
was the result? 

2. Describe the capture of St. John's by the French, in 1762. 
Where was the Governor at the time? 

3. Describe the recapture of St. John's by the English. 

4. How did the French fleet escape? 

5. Give the date of the Treaty of Paris. How did this treaty 
aflPect the Newfoundland fisheries? 

6. What addition to the jurisdiction of Newfoundland was 
made in 1763? What was the effect? 

7. What change occurred in 1764, and what effect had it? 

8. What was the population in 1763? Give the exports of 
that year, and of 1765. 

9. What was the condition of the people at this time? Men- 
tion their disadvantages. 

10. What form did religious persecution take, and who 
suffered by it? Who inflicted it? When did it cease? 

11. What led to this religious intolerance? What is the 
meaning of religious freedom? 

12. How is good-will to be maintained among those who differ 
in religion? 

MAP QUESTIONS. 
Describe the situation of Louisburg and Quebec. Point out 
Labrador, and give its dimensions. (See note.) Where are Bay 
of Bulls? Trinitv? Carbonear? Cork? Waterford? Belfast? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER XL 
William Pitt. — Born in 1708, died 1778. He was one of the most 
eminent of English statesmen. He was noted for his brilliant powers of 
debate, his eloquence, and the keenness of his sarcasm. He entered 
Parliament before he was twenty-one years of age, and took the lead against 
Sir Robert Walpole. He owes his chief fame as a minister to his conduct 
of the war in which he found his country involved when he was called 
to the head of affairs. In 1766 he retired from the House of Commons, — 
the scene of his glory, — and went to the House of Lords as Earl of 
Chatham. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and a monument was 



106 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 

erected to his memory at the public expense. His distinguished son, the 
Right Honourable William Pitt, became Prime Minister in 1783, when 
but twenty-four years of age ; a post which he held for seventeen j^ears, 
during a most momentous period in the history of England. He died, 
in 1806, at the age of forty-seven. 

General Wolfe. — Born at Westerham, in Kent, in 1727. He dis- 
tinguished himself in continental wars. The discerning ej^e of Pitt 
selected him for the great enterprise against Quebec. On the night of 
September 12, 1759, Wolfe, with a detachment of his troops, embarked 
in boats on the St. Lawrence, bound on the desperate enterprise of 
scaling the Heights of Abraham. The night was clear and calm. Wolfe 
was in the foremost boat, and as the flotilla dropped down with the tide, 
his low voice was heard repeating to his officers the stanzas of " Grey's 
Elegy in a Country Churchyard," which had recently appeared. It 
may be that a presentiment of his own approaching death gave a mourn- 
ful pathos to his voice as he uttered the touching words, " The paths of 
glory lead but to the grave." When he had finished, he added, "Now, 
gentlemen, I would rather have written those lines than take Quebec 
to-morrow," When the sun rose next morning the French saw Avith 
astonishment the Plains of Abraham glittering with arms, and the 
Bi'itish gathered in battle array. The gallant Montcalm mai'ched out to 
meet his foe. Wolfe, in leading on his soldiers, fell mortally wounded. 
Ere he breathed his last, one of his officers exclaimed, " See, they run ! " 
— " Who run ? " asked Wolfe. — " The enemy ; they give way every- 
where." — "Now God be praised," said the hero; "I die happy." 
Montcalm was also fatally wounded. Being told he could not live long, 
he replied, " So much the better. I shall not live to see the sim-ender of 
Quebec." 

" The victory on the Plains of Abraham and the downfall of Quebec," 
says Parkman, "filled all England with pride and exultation. From 
north to south the land blazed with illuminations, and resounded with 
the ringing of bells, the firing of guns, and the shouts of the multitude. 
In one village alone all was dark and silent amid the general jo_y, for 
there dwelt the mother of Wolfe. The populace, with unwonted delicacy, 
respected her lonely sorrow, and forbore to obtrude the sound of their 
rejoicings upon the grief for one who had been through life her pride 
and solace, and had repaid her love with a tender and constant devotion." 

Wolfe fell at the early age of thirty-four. His remains were brought 
to England, and interred at Greenwich. Parliament voted him a monu- 
ment in Westminster Abbey. 

French Capture of St. John's, 1762. — Anspach, in his 
"History of Newfoundland," makes honourable mention of two mer- 
chants whose public services were essentially useful at this critical time, 
when the French took St, John's, One of these was Robert Carter, a 
merchant at Ferryland, who, by his prudence and indefatigable exertions, 



JS'-OTES AND EXPLANATION'S. 107 

found means to procure a sufficient supply of provisions and other nec- 
essaries, for tiie support not only of the garrison at the Isle of Boys, but 
also of a considerable number of distressed inhabitants, who had retired 
thither for protection and relief, from the 24th of June to the 9th of 
October. The other was Charles Garland, then a merchant and justice 
of the peace in the district of Conception Bay, Carbonear Island was 
then deemed a place where a battery could be useful to the port and to 
the neighbourino- settlements. Mr. Garland supplied, at his own ex- 
pense, and for a considerable time, a small detachment which he had 
obtained from head-quarters for that small island, with firewood, pro- 
visions, and additional pay, until the French took it and destroyed the 
works and batteries. Mr. Garland also procured a number of seamen 
for the English squadron. His services were honourably acknowledged 
by the government, and he was indemnified for his expenses. 

On board Lord Colville's tiag-ship, the " Northumberland," when it 
came to the relief of St. John's, was Captain Cook, afterwards celebrated 
for his voyages round the world. He then held the position of " master " 
on board the flag-ship, having entered the navy as a common sailor. 
Governor Graves had formed a high opinion of Cook, and secured for 
him the conduct of a naval survey of Newfoundland, on which he spent 
three yeai's. His charts of the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador 
are found wonderfully accurate, even when the work is done over again, 
with the improved instruments of the present day. In this arduous 
service Cook won his first laurels, and proved himself an able mathema- 
tician. Sir Hugh Palliser, the Governor, had a warm esteem for him. 
After most distinguished services in exploring the Southern ocean, and 
charting the Australian coast, he engaged in an Arctic expedition. In 
1779 he was killed in an accidental quarrel with the natives of Owhyhee, 
one of the Sandwich Islands. 

Labrador. — The great peninsula of Labrador is 1,100 miles in 
length, and 600 miles in breadth, its area being 420,000 square miles. 
Only the eastern portion is under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland, the 
rest being annexed to the Dominion of Canada. The boundary between 
the two is a line drawn due north and south from Blanc Sablon to Cape 
Chudleigh. Such is the extraordinary fish-wealth of Labrador, that 
between 20,000 and 25,000 fishermen visit its shores during the summer 
months. Its fisheries are now mainly carried on by Newfoundland 
fishermen. In 1881, over 400,000 quintals of codfish were taken on 
Labrador, besides herrings and salmon. 

The Esquimaux of Labrador, among whom Moravian mission- 
aries have long laboured with success, number 1,700; the Indians of the 
interior 4,000 ; the resident Avhite population on the eastern coast, 2,400. 
On the St. Lawrence coast there is a population of 4,400; making a 
total of 12,500. The climate is very severe, and the country is unfit to 
be a residence of civilized man. 



108 PALLISEB'S ACT. [1775- 



CHAPTER XII. 

FROM 1Y75 TO 1814. 

PALLISER'S ACT. 

AMERICAN REVOLUTION. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ESTAB- 
LISHED IN NEWFOUNDLAND. — TREATY OF VER- 
SAILLES. SUPREME COURT ESTABLISHED. WAR 

WITH FRANCE. — GREAT PROSPERITY OF THE FISH- 
ERIES. LAND RESTRICTIONS LESSENED. MUTINY 

DETECTED IN THE GARRISON AT ST. JOHN'S. VARIOUS 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

1, The infant settlements in Newfoundland, now 
growing into strength and importance, received some 
recognition and encouragement in 1775. The British 
Parliament passed an act which was known in the island 
as " Palliser's Act," as it was drawn up at the recom- 
mendation of Captain Palliser, who had recently held the 
office of Governor. This act still kept alive the principle 
of a ship-fishery carried on from England, but introduced 
some useful regulations. Among other things it di- 
rected all agreements between masters and servants to 
be made in writing, and that no more than one-half of 
the wages of the latter should at any time be advanced 
to them. It also declared that all fish and oil taken 
and made by the employer should be liable, in the first 
place, for the payment of the servants' wages. This 
last provision was especially beneficial, as it secured 
the payment of the hardly-earned wages of the fisher- 
men at the close of the season, and ended the disputes 
long prevalent between masters and servants on this 
subject. To insure the return of the fishermen to Eng- 



1814.] . FALLISER'S ACT. 109 

land, this act authorized the masters to detain forty 
shillings out of their wages for paying their passages 
liome. By the same act a bounty was given to vessels 
engaged in the Bank fishery. 

3, But now a new source of trouble presented itself, 
which entailed severe sufferings and losses on the whole 
population. A war arose between Great Britain and 
her revolted colonies in North Ainerica, in 1775. It did 
not terminate tiU 1782, when England acknowledged the 
independence of the United States. The first Congress 
of the revolted colonies passed a decree forbidding all 
exports to British possessions. This blow fell with spe- 
cial severity upon the inhabitants of Newfoundland, who, 
for a lengthened period, had been accustomed to obtain 
their supplies of food from the New England States. 
The annual import of such produce amounted, at that 
time, to £345,000 per annum. Gloom and despondency 
prevailed throughout the island, owing to the appre- 
hended scarcity of provisions. The diflSculty was met 
by detaching vessels from the fishery and sending them 
to Ireland for supplies of food. American privateers 
appeared on the coast, and, entering some of the harbours, 
destroyed much valuable property. British cruisers, 
however, were sent, which speedily drove off the priva- 
teers, capturing and burning a number of them. St. 
John's was at once put in a state of defence, and a new 
fort, called Fort Townsend, was erected to protect the 
harbour. A detachment of soldiers and a supply of 
arms arrived from England to aid the people in defend- 
ing themselves. Ships of war were kept constantly 
cruising around the coast. France declared in favour 
of the United States, and war was commenced between 
France and England. Rear-Admiral Montague, who 
was then Governor of Newfoundland, captured the isl- 



110 PALLISEB'S ACT. ■ [17T5- 

ands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which had been ceded 
to France, and sent nearly two thousand of the French 
inhabitants home to their own countrj^ 

3. At length the unhappy war between England and 
her colonies ended, in 1782, in the recognition of the 
independence of the United States. This introduced 
an immediate change for the better in Newfoundland. 
Its trade and industries revived. The people were no 
longer harassed by the attacks of privateers and the 
dread of invasion. After a time commercial inter- 
course with the United States was resumed, and im- 
portations of food, but only in British ships at first, 
were permitted. 

4. In 1782 Vice- Admiral John Campbell was ap- 
pointed Governor of the island. The increasing impor- 
tance of its trade and fisheries had led to the appoint- 
ment of officers of a higher rank than that of captains 
and commodores to take charge of its government, ths 
first of whom was Rear- Admiral Montague. Governor 
Campbell proved to be a man of an enlightened and 
liberal spirit. To him the people were indebted for 
terminating the reign of religious intolerance and per- 
secution. He issued an order, in 1784, to all magis- 
trates throughout the island, which ran as follows : 
"Pursuant to the King's instructions tome, you are 
to allow all persons inhabiting this island to have full 
liberty of conscience, and the free exercise of all such 
modes of religious worship as are not prohibited by law, 
provided they be content with a quiet and peaceable en- 
joyment of the same, not giving offence or scandal to 
government." The year which witnessed this happy 
change brought the Rev. Dr. O'Donnell, a Roman Catho- 
lic clergyman, to the island. He at once obtained full 
liberty to erect a place of worship, to celebrate mar- 



1814.] PALLISER'S ACT. Ill 

riages, and to perform all the rites and ceremonies of 
his Church. He was the first authorized Roman Catho- 
lic missionary in the island after it became a purely 
British possession. In 1796 he was appointed Vicar- 
Apostolic and Bishop. 

5. Clergymen of the Church of England had been 
labouring in the island from 1703 ; but it was not till 
1787 that a Bishop was appointed from Nova Scotia, 
and Newfoundland was attached to his see. Wesley an 
Methodism in the island dates from 1765, when a 
single minister, the Rev. Lawrence Coughlan, planted 
it; but it was not till 1786 that three missionaries 
arrived to follow up his labours. English dissent was 
represented as early as 1775 by a single Congregational 
Church in St. John's. Governor Campbell, in 1782, 
renewed permission for a continuation of its services. 
Thus, happil}^, all Christian denominations henceforth 
enjoyed equal freedom of worship. 

6. The war between England and France was termi- 
nated by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. This treaty 
altered the boundaries of that portion of the coast of 
Newfoundland on which the French had rights of fish- 
ing. It was agreed that henceforth the French fishing 
should commence at Cape St. John, situated on the 
eastern coast of the island, in about 50° of latitude, and 
going round to the north, and down the western coast, 
should have for boundary Cape Ray. This change was 
beneficial, as it defined accurately the boundaries, about 
which previousl}^ there had been many quarrels. 

7. The year 1793 was marked by a beneficial change 
in the administration of justice, which may be truly 
said to have constituted a new era in Newfoundland. 
This was the establishment of a Supreme Court of Judi- 
cature, and the appointment of a Chief Justice. After 



112 PAL USER'S ACT, [1775- 

the authority of the " Fishing Admirals " had come to 
an end the commanders of the King's ships, visiting 
the island in summer, were commissioned by the Gover- 
nor to administer justice. Under the title of "Surro- 
gates," or deputies of the Grovernor, they held courts 
in different places and determined causes. During their 
absence, in winter, Courts of Session, composed of jus- 
tices of the peace for the several districts, assumed the 
administration of justice.. The Court of Admiralty had 
been unduly extending its powers, and frequently came 
into collision with the other courts, thus causing great 
confusion and dissatisfaction. The authority of all 
these courts was brought to an end, in 1793, by the 
creation of a Supreme Court for the whole island, having 
full power to try all persons charged with crimes and 
misdemeanours, and to determine all suits and com- 
plaints of a civil nature. Chief Justice Reeves was 
the first president of the Supreme Court. He was a man 
of high character and great legal ability. He published 
a "History of the Government of Newfoundland," in 
which he faithfully and fearlessly laid bare the causes of 
the evils which afflicted the country. He showed con- 
clusively that the merchant adventurers, for their own 
selfish purposes, had been endeavouring to keep all 
power in their own hands, so as to exclude competition 
from without or within ; and that their policy had pre- 
vented the settlement of the country and the proper 
administration of justice. Among the benefactors of 
Newfoundland, Chief Justice Reeves deserves to hold 
a foremost place. He effected many beneficial changes 
in the administration of justice ; but such was the force 
of old customs that it was not till 1824 that an act was 
passed completely abolishing the old Surrogates and 
Sessions Courts, and appointing two judges to assist the 



1814.] PALLISER'S ACT. 113 

Chief Justice. The whole island was then divided into 
three districts, in each of which a court was appointed 
to be held every year. 

8. The French Revolution of 1789 must be regarded, 
in its far-reaching results, as one of the most stupendous 
events of modern times. The war between France and 
England, which broke out in 1793, had a most impor- 
tant influence on the fortunes of Newfoundland. It 
was anticipated that the French would again try to get 
possession of the island. Admiral Wallace, the Gov- 
ernor, called on the people to aid in protectiug their homes 
against a French invasion. They responded to his call 
in a most loyal spirit. Volunteers flocked to the na- 
tional standard, and a corps of six hundred men was 
formed in addition to the volunteer force. The forts 
were strengthened, and new batteries made ready for 
action. In 1796 a French squadron appeared off the 
harbour of St. John's ; but, finding that a hot reception 
was prepared for them, they passed on without challeng- 
ing a shot. They succeeded in burning the defenceless 
settlement of Bay of Bulls, and, after this small exploit, 
disappeared. No hostile force has, since that exciting- 
da}^, fired the warlike ardour of the inhabitants, or 
threatened the peace of the rising settlements. 

9. The gigantic struggle between England and France, 
which did not end till 1814, gave a remarkable impulse 
to the prosperity of the colony. England was mistress 
of the seas ; the French could no longer prosecute the 
fisheries on the Banks or around the shores of the 
island. The supply of the fish-markets of Europe fell 
exclusively into the hands of the Newfoundland mer- 
chants. Fish rose to an unprecedented price. In 1799, 
400 vessels were engaged in the trade of the country, 
and about 2,000 boats. The export of fish reached 



114 PALLISER'S ACT. [17T5- 

500,000 quintals. The capital invested in the fish- 
eries of cod, salmon, and seals was not less than 
£1,500,000 sterliDg. The seal-fishery, which had 
before been prosecuted only on a small scale, now 
attained large dimensions, and brought in much 
wealth. In 1804 the number of seals taken was 106,739. 
Population rapidly increased. In 1804 the resident 
population was 20,380 ; while the fishermen who re- 
turned to England at the close of the season numbered 
over 4,000. In 1807 the population of St. John's had 
risen to 5,000, and in 1812 to 7,075. The war between 
England and the United States, which began in 1812, 
removed the competition of American fishermen, and a 
complete monopoly of European fish-markets followed. 
Fish rose to three times its usual price, reaching, at length, 
forty-five shillings sterling per quintal. The fisheries, 
too, were abundant during several years. The wages 
of the fishermen increased in proportion. Large num- 
bers of emigrants arrived from Ireland. In 1814, 7,000 
came, and the following year 4,000 more. From 1812 
to 1816 the population of St. John's nearly doubled. 
Princely fortunes were made by the capitalists engaged 
in the fisheries, mauy of them securing from $60,000 to 
$100,000 of profits in a single season. Persons who 
commenced the business entirely destitute of capital 
shared in these enormous gains, and accumlated large 
fortunes in a short period. In 1814 the quantity of fish 
exported was over 1,200,000 quintals, of the value of 
more than $12,000,000. In 1815 the export was almost 
as large. But, if the war raised wages, it also im- 
mensely increased the price of all the necessaries and 
luxuries of life. Flour was £8 per barrel ; pork £12 
per barrel. The fishermen spent their wages lavishly at 
the stores of the merchants, never dreaming that the good 



1814.] PALLISER'S ACT. 115 

times were not to last forever, or that a fearful commer- 
cial crash, destined to cause much suffering, was at hand. 

10. During those years of prosperous fisheries and 
increasing population, from 1796 to 1814, improvements 
of various kinds were slowly working their way. But 
the old restrictive system was still maintained in full 
force, and prevented the people from cultivating the 
soil, making comfortable homes for themselves, and se- 
curing their independence. The vast wealth realized by 
the fisheries went to enrich other lands. None of it 
was spent in the improvement of the island, or for the 
promotion of civilization among its resident population. 
No other l^ritish colony was ever dealt with so harshly. 
Millions of money were lavished in promoting the settle- 
ment of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada ; but 
not only was encouragement denied to settlers in New- 
foundland, but all grants of land were sternly refused. 

11. Many of the governors who were appointed, and 
who held office for three or four years each, were en- 
lightened and humane men, and quite alive to the evils 
of the system and the miseries which it caused. But they 
were naval officers, who resided only a few months each 
year in the island. Naturally they were inclined to sus- 
tain the old order of things which regarded the country 
as a fishing-station, and a training port for seamen, not 
as a home for a civilized community. They, therefore, 
strictly enforced the policy which reserved the shores of 
the island for the use of the migratory fishermen from 
England, and denied all applications for land grants. 

12. As an illustration of the working of the system, 
two instances may be mentioned. In 1790 Governor 
Milbanke discovered that a house had been erected in 
St. John's witliout permission. He immediately issued 
orders to the sheriff' to pull it down, declaring that no 



116 PALLISER'S ACT. [1775- 

property in land would be allowed except it were actu- 
ally employed in connection with the fishery. In 1799 
Governor Waldegrave found, on his return from his 
winter sojourn in England, that a fence and two sheds 
had been put up during his absence. He sharply re- 
buked the sheriff for his laxity, and ordered both erec- 
tions to be removed. Yet he was an intelligent, humane 
man, and was the first to institute charitable societies 
for the relief of the poor, with whose deplorable condi- 
tion he showed much sympathy. He also did what he 
could to promote education, and he secured the erection 
of a new church in St. John's. But the governors of 
those da3's considered that loyalty to England obliged 
them to enforce the harsh system, however hardly it 
pressed on the people. 

13. Good influences, however, were at work among 
the people, who had long been suffering from social dis- 
advantages. In many of the smaller settlements suc- 
cessive generations had hitherto lived and died without 
education, or almost any religious instruction. It is not 
wonderful that, among a people so circumstanced, irre- 
ligion, immorality, and disorder should have prevailed, 
more or less. But now a change for the better com- 
menced. Churches had been springing up in various 
localities ; and, in connection with these, secular and 
Sunday schools were opened for the education of the 
young. Clergymen, both Protestant and Catholic, left 
the old country to minister to the spiritual wants of the 
long-neglected people. Amid hardships and privations 
of the severest kind these good men toiled with com- 
mendable devotion among their flocks. Under all 
these beneficial influences a striking change for the 
better was gradually effected. 

14. A serious alarm was created, in the year 1800, 



1814.] PALLISER'S ACT. Ill 

by the discovery of a mutinous plot among the soldiers 
stationed at St. John's, composing the Royal Newfound- 
laud Regiment, which had been enlisted chiefly from 
among the populace. The conspirators appear to have 
had sj'mpathizers and adherents among the more turbu- 
lent and ignorant of the lower classes, who were pre- 
pared to act in concert with the mutineers. Their plan 
was to desert with their arms, and, being joined with 
their friends outside, to plunder St. John's, and after- 
wards escape to the United States. Had the conspiracy 
not been detected in time, terrible results would have 
followed, involving robber}' and assassination. The 
discovery of the plot was made by the Roman Catholic 
Bishop, Dr. O'Donnell, who promptly informed the 
commanding officer of the impending peril. Prompt 
measures were taken. The ringleaders among the 
soldiers were tried by court-martial and executed. The 
regiment was relieved by another from Halifax, and the 
alarm speedil}' subsided. All classes felt and acknowl- 
edged the debt of gratitude due to Bishop O'Donnell 
for his conduct on this occasion. To mark their sense 
of his patriotic conduct the British Government bestowed 
on him a pension of £50 per annum, an inadequate re- 
ward for such an important service. 

15. During the administration of Governor Sir 
Erasmus Gower, which commenced in 1804, a very 
important improvement was effected in St. John's. 
Previous to this time the principal buildings of the 
town were huddled into a small space, extending around 
the margin of the harbour, and at no great distance from 
high-water mark, there being no permission to erect 
permanent dwellings elsewhere. Governor Gower suc- 
ceeded in obtaining the consent of the British ministry 
to a new arrangement, by which the grounds near the 



118 PALLISER'S ACT. [1T75- 

wa.ter were reserved for the purposes of a mercantile 
port ; and the land higher up was sold, in small lots, for 
the erection of houses. The improvement of the town 
dates from this more liberal arrangement. The prohibi- 
tion against building had led to the erection of wooden 
huts in a narrow space, and in such a way as to present 
a continual danger from fire. In one place, the thor- 
oughfare was not more than six feet wide. All the 
streets were narrow, unpaved, and unlighted. 

16. Thus the old system of prohibiting the erection 
of houses, without a written permission from the Gov- 
ernor, at last received its death-blow. Governor Sir John 
Thomas Duckworth, who arrived in 1810, carried out this 
great improvement, by leasing the ground around the har- 
bour for wharves and sites for mercantile premises. At 
the close of his term of office he reported to the British 
government that the resident population had now so 
largely increased that the fisheries were mainly carried on 
by them, and that it was vain to attempt lessening their 
numbers or checking their increase. He recommended 
that all impediments to the cultivation of the soil should 
be removed, so that the population might provide for 
their wants by agriculture as well as fishing. His suc- 
cessor was authorized to carry out these suggestions ; 
but he did so with a very niggardly hand. Small plots 
of ground, four acres in extent, were granted on short 
leases, and witli a rent attached. There were no roads, 
and yet, under these unfavourable conditions, the applica- 
tions for land were more numerous than could be met. 
It is evident that, with such restricted land-grants agri- 
culture could make little progress. The illiberal policy 
continued still for more than twenty years ; and was only 
effectually ended when the colony obtained a legislature 
and the power of self-government. 



1814.] QUESTIONS FOB EXAMINATION'. 119 

17, Governor Duckworth proved to be a ruler pos- 
sessed of activity and intelligence. He made a voyage to 
the northern settlements and Labrador, in order to acquaint 
himself with the condition and wants of the people. He 
endeavoured to establish friendly relations with the Red 
Indians of the country ; but his efforts unfortunately failed. 
He established a hospital in St. John's, which proved to 
be a great boon to the poorer classes of the city and its 
suburbs. His memory is still deservedly held in respect. 

18, The years 1805 and 1806 witnessed^ the introduc- 
tion of two of the great resources of civilization, — a 
post-office and a newspaper. Previousl}^, letters were 
sent b}^ any casual conveyance ; now a postmaster was 
appointed, and merchant-vessels carried the mail-bags. 
The first newspaper was the " Royal Gazette." It was 
published by John Ryan, and is still in existence. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER XII, 

1. What was the effect of Palliser's Act? 

2. When did the American Revohition begin? How did it 
affect Newfoundland? How was the island defended? 

3. When was the independence of the United States acknowl- 
edged? What good effects followed to Newfoundland? 

4. What important proclamation did Governor Campbell 
issue in 1784? What was the result to Roman Catholics? What 
Catholic clergyman arrived? 

5. When was the first Bishop of the Church of England ap- 
pointed? Who planted Wesleyan Methodism? Give the date of 
Congregationalism ? 

O. What change did the Treaty of Versailles make? 

7. What great improvement came in 1793? Who was the first 
Chief Justice? Mention what he did for the good of the people. 

8. What great war began in 1793? Who invaded the island? 
What happened? 

9. What effect had this war on the condition of the colony? 
Describe its prosperity. What emigrants arrived in 1814? What 
were the exports in 1814 and 1815? 



120 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 

10. What were the grievances of the people during this period? 

11. Why did the Governors sustain the old order of things? 

12. Mention some instances of restrictions in land grants. 

13. What good influences were at work? 

14. Give the particulars of the mutiny in 1800. Who dis- 
covered it? How was he rewarded? 

15. What improvement came in 1804? 

1 6. What report did Governor Duckworth make of the colony ? 

17. What did he do for the good of the country? 

18. What improvements came in 1805 and 1806? 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER XII. 

French Fisheries in Newfoundland Waters. —The impor- 
tance attached by France to these fisheries may be judged from the fact 
that, in fortifying Louisburg, in Cape Bi'eton, she spent over a million 
sterling. " This," said Abbe Raynal, " was not thought too great a sum 
for the support of the fisheries, for securing the communication between 
France and Canada, for obtaining a security or retreat to ships in time of 
war, coming from the Southern islands." In the confusion which fol- 
lowed the French Revolution, bounties were discontinued, and in conse- 
qu.ence, the number of French fishermen engaged in these fisheries fell 
from 15,000 in 1777, to 3,400 in 1793. Subsequently, they were 
abandoned almost entirely till the return of peace in 1814. 

At the present time the number of French fishermen engaged in the 
Newfoundland Bank and Shore fisheries is over 7,000 , and the average 
value of their catch is £280,000 sterling. 

Chief- Justice Reeves. — He deservedly holds a first place among 
the benefactors of Newfoundland. His able "History" etfectually 
opened the eyes of British statesmen to the evils of the existing system 
in the island; and by his personal, judicious efforts, he accomplished 
much good. Of the Fishing Admirals he said, " They are ever the 
servants of the merchants. Justice was not to be expected from them; 
and a poor planter or inhabitant, who was considered little better than a 
law-breaker in being such, had but a small chance of justice, in opposi- 
tion to any great west-country merchant. They considered that New- 
foundland was theirs, and that all the planters were to be spoiled, and 
devoured at their pleasure." 

The term "planter" in Newfoundland means a sort of middle-man, 
who obtains supplies for the fisheries from the merchant, and employs 
fishermen to whom he distributes these supplies, in the locality where he 
resides. At the end of the season he sells the fish he has collected to 
the merchant, and pays the fishermen their wages. At first the mer- 
chants and their immediate servants were the only classes of pei'sons 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 121 

engaged in the fisheries. Then a third class was added, called " Bye- 
boat keepers," who also kept a certain number of servants and were 
supplied by the merchants, to whom they sold the produce of their 
voyage. In course of time these became resident *' planters." 

Fires in the woods are very common in Newfoundland, and destroy 
an immense amount of timber. In the summer of 1812, which was 
unusually hot. Harbour Grace had a narrow escape from destruction by 
one of these fires which approached close to the town. The scene is 
said to have been one of terrific grandeur, as the flames leaped from 
thicket to thicket with a roaring noise and huge volumes of smoke. 
The inhabitants rushed out, and, by cutting semicircular spaces between 
the town and the blazing woods, with great difficulty, arrested the 
progress of the fire. 

Golonization in Newfoundland. — The contract between the 
treatment of Newfoundland and that of the neighbouring colonies is very 
striking. While capital, skill, and labour were directed to the improve- 
ment of the other colonies, the adventurers to Newfoundland extracted 
millions from its resources, without expending anything on its internal 
improvement. If only a portion of the wealth drawn from its fisheries 
had, at an early period, been spent in promoting the cultivation of the 
soil and opening up the interior, its now unoccupied wastes would long- 
since have been covered with a prosperous population. But, while in 
Newfoundland the most strenuous efforts were made to prevent settle- 
ment and cultivation, in Nova Scotia money was lavished by the 
British Government in promoting colonization. Burke stated, in the 
House of Commons, that Nova Scotia had cost England £700,000. In 
1749 the first settlers landed at Chebucto Harbour (now Halifax), 
and for their assistance Parliament voted £40,000 sterling. The settle- 
ment of Lunenburgh, Nova Scotia, in seven years, cost England 
£445,584. On roads, canals, mines, and other pubHc works in Canada, 
millions were expended, while protective duties secured a monopoly for 
its products in English markets. Contrast with this the harsh treatment 
of the Newfoundland colonists, and the injury done to the fisheries by 
unwise concessions to the French. New Zealand and New South 
Wales present a similar contrast in the bountiful encouragement they 
received in their infancy. 

The West Country Trade with Newfoundland. — The 
following extracts from an article Avhich appeared in " The Western 
Times," an Exeter newspaper, in 1872, refer to the time when the 
fisheries were carried on from England; "The places nearest to us 
most engaged in the trade of Newfoundland, towards the end of the last 
century and the beginning of the present, were Teignmouth, Shaldon, 
Torquay, Dartmouth. Many old hands will remember the large concern 
carried on by the house of Newman, at Dartmouth, from which has 
sprung the Baronet of Mamhead House ; and also the names of Job, 



122 GHBONOLOGY. 



Codner, and Hunt. At Torquay there were the Stabbs, Prowses, and 
others; at Teignmouth, Warren; at Shaldon there were the Rowes, 
Wilkings, Harveys, and divers others, who owned a considerable fleet of 
craft employed in fishing on the Banks, and in carrying the cured fish to 
the ports of Spain, Portugal, and the Mediterranean, and Great Britain. 
It was one of the ways by which the country side was relieved of its 
redundant rustic population. The young fellows who had a little pluck 
in them left the mattock and shovel, and betook them to the hook and 
line. Many Devonshire men spent their lives in going annually to the 
Newfoundland fishing work, either on the Banks or in large boats along 
the shore, from March till November. The return of the vessels in 
November was a time of great anxiety to hundreds of Avives and families 
in South Devon, as well as to the mei-chant-adventurers concerned 
therein. To them the year's luck in cod-fishing was everything, and 
the arrivals of the returning vessels, in this dreary month, an exciting 
time. 

"Employment was given by the Newfoundland trade, in the ship^ 
building yards, to rope, saU, and net makers, and to the manufacturers of 
all kinds of clothing. The cordage, sail, and net making was, for the 
most part, carried off by Bridport. Nor has Exeter been without its 
interest in Newfoundland matters. The manufacture of the hooks used 
in the cod-fishing was carried on here, — among the last, by a family in 
Fore street, among whom it appears to have been hereditary. Sei'ges, 
woven in Exeter, were largely exported to the Peninsula by the vessels 
which carried the cured cod, and other fish to the Catholic countries of 
Spain and Portugal, — the fish for food on fast days, the serges to clothe 
the monks. 

"The change that has since come may beget a feeling something 
stronger than surprise ; for not only is the trade, the shipping, and all 
the local interest vanished, but a generation has arisen that seems to 
haye forgotten how much codfish and seal-skins contributed to raise the 
condition of several very pretty and flourishing towns, not to mention 
the fortunes of private men." 



CHKONOLOGICAL SUMMARY.— CHAPTERS XI. AND XII. 

A.D. 

1756. Seven Years' War commenced. 

1758. Second capture of Louisburg. 

1759. Quebec taken by Wolfe. 

1760. George III. commenced to reign. 

1762. St. Jolm's, Newfoundland, taken by the French. 

1763. Treaty of Paris. 

Labrador attached to Newfoundland. 



GHBONOLOGY. 123 



1764. Customs and Navigation Laws introduced, Newfoundland. 

1774. First American Congress. 
Battle of Lexington. 

1775. Battle of Bunker Hill. 

1776. Declaration of American Independence. 

1777. Battle of Brandywine. 

1778. France acknowledged independence of United States. 
1780. Gordon Eiots in London. 

1782. England acknowledged Independence of United States. 

1783. Treaty of Versailles . 

William Pitt the younger, Prime Minister of England. 

1784. Religious freedom established in Newfoundland. 

1788. Impeachment of Warren Hastings. 

1789. French Revolution. 

1793. Supreme Court established in Newfoundland. 

1797. Spain and England at war. 

1798. Rebellion in Ireland. 
Battle of the Nile. 

1800. Mutiny in the garrison detected at St. John's. 

1801. Union of Great Britain and Ireland. 
Battle of the Baltic. 

1804. Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor. 

1805. Post-office introduced, Newfoundland. 
Battles of Trafalgar and Austerlitz. 

1806. First newspaper published in Newfoundland. 
1809. Battles of Corunna and Talavera. 

1812. United States declared war against England. 
Retreat of Napoleon from Moscow. 
Americans invaded Canada. 

1813. Battle of Leipsic. 

1814. Battle of Lundy's Lane, Canada. 
Abdication of Napoleon. 

First Treaty of Paris. 
Treaty of Ghent. 

1815. Battle of Waterloo. 
1815. Second Treaty of Paris. 



EMINENT AUTHORS. 

Gibbon ; Hume ; Burns ; Edmund Burke ; Cowper ; Junius 
Adam Smith Keats ; Shelley ; Byron ; Scott. 



124 COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. [1814- 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FROM 1814 TO 1861. 

COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. 

FIRST OF 1816-17. PAUPERISM. FIRST ROADS IN 1825- 

REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT GRANTED. CONDI- 
TION OF THE FISHERIES IN 1832. POLITICAL DIS- 
TURBANCES. CAUSES OF THESE CONFLICTS. PUBLIC 

IMPROVEMENTS. GREAT FIRE OF 1846. " RESPON- 

^SIBLE government" GRANTED IN 1854. FIRST 

ATLANTIC CABLE IN 1858. VISIT OF THE PRINCE OF 

"WALES IN 1860. POLITICAL TROUBLES. 

1, We have seen how prosperous were the fisheries 
during the long European wars which followed the French 
Revolution. The price of fish trebled ; and all the fish- 
markets of Europe were supplied from Newfoundland. 
Neither French nor American fishermen were to be found 
on the Banks. Great nnmbers of emigrants were attracted 
to the island by the high rate of wages, and the popula- 
tion rapidly increased. Immense fortunes were quickly 
made by the capitalists. The middle classes, too, increased 
in wealth and numbers. No one dreamed that this artificial 
and exceptional prosperity could not last, or imagined 
that the sunshine was soon to be overclouded and dis- 
aster and ruin to descend on the communit}'. In pros- 
perity no provision was made for the dark days of 
adversity. 

2. The battle of Waterloo, in 1815, brought the great 
European conflict to a close, and peace was reestablished 
by the Treaty of Paris. By this treaty the French right 
of fishino- on the Banks and shores of the island was 



1861.] GOMMEBCIAL DISASTERS. 125 

restored to its former footing. Americans were also 
allowed extended privileges of fishing in British waters. 
Both French and Americans at once established a system 
of bounties to encourage their own fishermen ; and, at the 
same time, by high duties, prevented the admission of 
Newfoundland fish into their own markets. The result 
was a rapid extension of the French and American fish- 
eries. Newfoundland had now to compete, in the fish- 
consuming countries, with Frenchmen and Americans, 
whose governments paid them a liberal sum for every 
quintal of fish caught, over and above the price for which , 
it sold. The British government granted no bounties ; 
and thus the Newfoundland fishermen had to compete 
with the others on very unequal terms. 

3. The consequence of the new condition of things 
was that the price of fish fell speedily from forty-five to 
twelve shillings per quintal. This brought on a com- 
mercial crash, at the close of 1815, involving a large 
proportion of the merchants and planters in bankruptcy 
and ruin. Numbers of the large mercantile firms became 
hopelessly involved, and were unable to pay their cred- 
itors. Others, who were not insolvent, became so dis- 
heartened that they realized whatever property remained, 
and left the country. Only a few managed to weather 
the storm, and these were greatly reduced in their 
means of carrying on business. No less than nine hun- ^ 
dred cases, arising out of extensive failures, came be- 
fore the civil courts. Losses by bankruptcies amounted 
to a million pounds sterling. The middle and working 
classes suffered with the rest. There was little use 
made of banks in those days, and planters and fishermen 
were in the habit of leaving their savings, during pros- 
perous years, in the hands of the merchants, for safe- 
keeping. The bankruptcy of the merchants swept away 



126 COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. [1814- 

all their hardly earned savings. It is calculated that the 
working-classes lost, in this way, the large sum of 
£400,000, a great part of what they had accumulated in 
the late prosperous period. 

4. These were dark and trying days. Supplies for 
the fisheries were suddenly cut off or greatly lessened. 
Multitudes were thus deprived of the means of earning 
their bread. In many instances the wages earned 
during the summer of 1815 were not paid to the fisher- 
men, owing to the insolvency of their employers. A 
large population had been attracted by the prosperity of 
previous years, and these could not now be sustained in 
the depressed condition of the fisheries. Large numbers 
were left unemployed, and became dependent on public 
charity. It was absolutely necessary to remove some of 
them. At the public expense many of the most desti- 
tute were shipped to Ireland. Over a thousand were 
sent to Halifax. 

5. Such was the state of affairs at the close of 1815, 
and this was but the beginning of disasters. On the 12th 
of February of the following year, 1816, a terrible fire 
broke out in St. John's, during the night, when a heavy 
gale was blowing. It was a night of terrors. The 
flames, fanned by a furious wind, spread with inconceiva- 
ble rapidity among wooden houses, huddled together with- 
out any stone or brick partitions, or any provision for 
safety. Hundreds had barely time to escape from their 
dwellings with scarcely any covering, and stood shiver- 
ing in the piercing blasts ; while all they possessed was 
perishing before their eyes, and they were left without a 
shelter. No less than 120 houses were destro^^ed, and 
1,500 persons left without a home. The loss of property 
was estimated at £100,000. 

6. The fisheries of 1817 were disastrous failures, and 



1861.] COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. 127 

the price of fish was very low. The sufferings of the 
poor fishermen were terrible, although every effort was 
made to alleviate then- distress. Food-riots broke out, 
and men with arms in their hands, rendered desperate 
by starvation, demanded relief from the magistrates, 
and broke into the merchants' stores and carried off pro- 
visions. Order, however, was soon reestablished. The 
British Parliament sent relief to the distressed colony, 
and private charity was active. 

7. But now arrived what seemed to be the crowning 
calamity, to complete the wretchedness of the people. 
On the 7th of November, 1817, another destructive fire 
broke out in St. John's, and in a few hours 13 mercan- 
tile establishments, 140 dwelling-houses, besides stores 
and wharves, were destroyed, and 1,100 persons were 
left without homes. The loss of propert}^ was nearly 
£500,000 sterling. Many of those involved in the 
former fire were severe sufferers now ; and numbers 
of the most respectable inhabitants lost all their prop- 
erty. The long and dreary winter was before them. 
They were congratulating themselves on the fact that 
one-half of the town was still left to shelter them, when 
only a fortnight after, on the 21st of November, the ter- 
rible cry of " Fire ! " again startled them from their slum- 
bers. Before the flames could be arrested, 56 houses, 
with several stores and wharves, were burned. These 
fires left 2,000 persons houseless, many of whom had 
lost all they possessed. 

8. Scenes of heart-rending distress followed. When 
news of these calamitous events spread, sympathy was 
at once awakened, and help speedily arrived. Provisions 
were despatched from Halifax to save the inhabitants 
from starvation. The generous people of Boston loaded 
a vessel with provisions of various kinds, which proved a 



128 COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. [1814- 

most welcome gift. The British government sent prompt 
and liberal aid. The G-overnor, the merchants, and the 
wealthier classes exerted themselves to relieve the wants 
of the more destitute portion of the people. A number 
of those had been left without homes removed to the out- 
harbours, and some went to other countries. 

9. Though there were a few instances of disorder 
arising from the pressure of want and misery, the people, 
on the whole, met their calamities with fortitude and 
patience. It was not long till the dark hour became 
brighter, and began to pass away. The seal and cod 
fisheries of 1818 were unusually successful. All over the 
commercial world prosperity began to revive. The price 
of fish in the home and foreign markets rose considerably. 
The people who had suffered so sorely took fresh courage, 
and soon industrial activity was everywhere visible. The 
inhabitants of St. John's set to work to clear away the 
blackened ruins ; and, phoenix-like, the town soon rose 
from its ashes. The streets were widened, precautions 
against fire were taken, and more substantial dwellings 
replaced the old wooden structures which had furnished 
fuel to former conflagrations. 

10. Admiral Pickmore had been Governor during those 
calamitous years. He was the first resident Governor, — 
the practice formerly being that the governors arrived in 
July or August, and left for England in October or No- 
vember. Henceforward they were required to reside in 
the island. Governor Pickmore died in St. John's in 
February, 1818, and his remains were sent to England 
for interment. He was succeeded in July of the same 
year by Sir Charles Hamilton. 

11. St. John's was not the only place which suffered 
by fire. In 1816 a fire broke out in Carbonear which de- 
stroyed sixteen houses and much property. The Metho- 



1861.] COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. 129 

dist church was one of the buildings consumed in this fire. 
The parish church of Harbour Grace, which had recently 
been enlarged, was burned towards the close of the same 
year. 

12. Though the country had begun to recover from 
these severe blows yet the effects of those three years 
of adversity were felt long afterwards, and greatly re- 
tarded the progress of the colony. The losses sustained 
by the working-classes reduced many of them to a state 
of poverty ; and each winter season , owing to partial 
failures of the fisheries, numbers became dependent on 
public charity. Relief of this kind, extended to able- 
bodied men, had a demoralizing effect, destroying their 
self-respect and self-reliance, and rendering them reckless 
and improvident. The governing powers, in after years, 
found great difficulty in dealing with this constantly 
recurring pauperism, which became a heavy burden on 
the revenue of the country. Still, it is not to be won- 
dered at that these public calamities should have created a 
serious amount of poverty. Almost universal bankruptcy 
had deranged business from one end of the island to the 
other, and an enormous amount of capital had been swept 
away by fires. But all difficulties were met with spirit 
and energy, and were eventually overcome. 

13. Up to this time the people had no voice in the 
management of their own affairs. The power of the 
governors was absolute, and their rule a despotism. They 
were generally inclined to sustain the old order of things, 
and, as a rule, were opposed to changes and improve- 
ments which the altered circumstances of the colony 
demanded. A desire for self-government now took 
possession of many minds. In 1821 an agitation was 
begun for the introduction of such institutions as would 
confer on the people the power of making their own laws, 



130 COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. [1814- 

and, through their chosen representatives, regulating all 
matters aJfFecting their well-being. Such a desire was a 
proof of advancing intelligence and self-reliance among 
the people. At first the British government would not 
listen to the petitions for local self-government. The 
supporters of the old despotic system in the colony were 
opposed to it ; and it required an agitation of ten years to 
secure this right. 

14:. The administration of justice was greatly im- 
proved, in 1824, by an act of the British Parliament 
which provided that the Supreme Court should be held 
by the Chief-Justice and two assistant judges. The 
island was divided into three districts, in each of which 
a Circuit Court was appointed to be held annually, by 
one of the judges, from the decisions of which an appeal 
to the Supreme Court was permitted. A Court of Civil 
Jurisdiction was also instituted for Labrador. This 
arrangement secured for the people the pure adminis- 
tration of justice, on the principles of English law, — one 
of the greatest blessings. 

15. In 1825 Sir Thomas Cochrane was appointed 
Governor. By his commission it was ordered that a 
Council should divide with him the responsibility of his 
government. Before this time governors had been sole 
rulers, acting on their own discretion. This Council, 
nominated by the crown, consisted of the three judges 
and the commander of the garrison stationed at St. 
John's. It constituted a decided improvement on the 
old despotic system, and proved to be the first step to- 
wards government by representatives chosen by the 
people. 

16. Sir Thomas Cochrane proved to be an excellent 
Governor. He made liberal grants of land, though his 
leases contained unwise restrictions. He saw the neces- 



1861.] COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. 131 

sity of roads, if agriculture was to make any progress. 
His government was rendered memorable by the con- 
struction of the first roads in the island. It speaks 
volumes for the injustice with which the colony had been 
treated, when, notwithstanding all the wealth drawn from 
its fisheries, two hundred and forty-two years elapsed 
from its annexation to the British Crown, by Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert, till the construction of the first road. 
One of Governor Cochrane's roads extended to Portugal 
Cove, nine miles distant from St. John's ; another to 
Torbay, and another to Waterford Bridge. Along these 
roads farms were speedily laid oflT; neat cottages and 
farm-houses were erected, and cultivation advanced. A 
foundation was thus laid for future improvements ; and 
people learned by experience the value of roads. Gov- 
ernor Cochrane also commenced and completed a hand- 
some Government House in St. John's, at a cost of 
£30,000, which amount was furnished by the British 
Government. 

17. Meantime, as the ideas of the people continued 
to advance, and the prospects of the country brightened, 
the desire for local self-government began to pervade 
the minds of all classes. Public meetings on the subject 
were held ; petitions to the British Parliament poured in ; 
and the force of public opinion at last became irresistible. 
In 1832 the great boon of Representative Government 
was bestowed on Newfoundland. The island was di- 
vided into nine electoral districts, each of which was to 
have one or more representatives, according to popula- 
tion. Every man who had occupied a house for a year 
preceding the day of election, and who was twenty-one 
years of age, was entitled to a vote. The year 1833 
marked a new era in the history of the colony. On the 
first day of that year, the Governor, with all due pomp 



132 COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. [1814- 

and ceremony, opened the first Local Legislature. The 
people had now obtained the power of making their own 
laws, expending their revenue, and guiding their own 
affairs. Such a power, once granted, could never be per- 
manently withdrawn. It might be abused, and be 
attended by heavy drawbacks, but the advantages were 
altogether in favor of self-government. It has been 
found to be the great school for developing the energies 
of a free people, and promoting national progress. 

18. The long-drawn battle between the merchant- 
adventurers, who carried on the fishery from England, 
and the resident population was over long since. The 
hardy settlers were conquerors, and now held the fishery 
entirely in their own hands. The English Bank fishery 
declined rapidly after the close of the last war with 
France. Before that date nearly four hundred vessels 
fitted out in England were employed in the Bank fishery, 
and two-thirds of the fish exported were taken on the 
Banks. Then came a sudden change and a fall in the 
price of fish. The English could not compete with the 
French and American Bank fishermen, who were sus- 
tained by large national bounties which gave them a 
premium on the fish caught. In the resident fishermen 
of the island, who carried on the fisheries in boats around 
the shore, the English Bankers had also formidable rivals, 
who gradually gained the superiority. The English Bank 
fishery dwindled away, from these two causes. In 1832 
only a dozen small schooners prosecuted the Bank fishery ; 
and in a few years more it became totally extinct. The 
Newfoundland fishermen, living near the fishing-grounds, 
were able to compete successfully with the French and 
Americans, who had to make long and expensive voyages 
to the Banks. As their numbers increased their annual 
catch of fish improved, till they exported yearly over a 



1861.] GOMMERGJAL DISASTERS. 133. 

million quintals of fish, taken around the shores of the 
island and on the coast of Labrador. The average catch 
was thus equal to that of the palm}" days of the English 
Bank fishery. There was this further advantage, that the 
wealth now amassed in the fisheries was less likely to be 
carried away to other lands, and that more of it would 
remain among those whose labours had won it, and who 
would employ it in the improvement of the country. 

19. Newfoundland, having passed through periods of 
oppression and trial, had now attained to a position of 
freedom ; and its Legislature, composed of representa- 
tives chosen by the people, was the safeguard of its 
liberties. The people were no longer subject to the 
knavish and despotic "fishing-admirals," or to the 
quarter-deck mandates of their successors, the captains 
and commodores of the royal navy, who regarded the 
inhabitants as " subject to naval discipline." The rule 
of a few merchants, armed with the ordinances of " the 
Lords of Trade and Plantations," who once controlled 
the whole business of the island, and even the domestic 
life of the residents, had closed long since. The boon of 
self-government placed the destinies of the people in their 
own hands, and awakened new life and self-reliance 
among them. They now began to feel that for them- 
selves, theb children, and their country a brighter and 
better future was opening up. 

20. They had yet to learn, however, through bitter 
experience, that freedom is a gift which may be readily 
abused, and that its benefits can only be enjoyed when 
moderation, intelligence, and morality guide the conduct 
of its possessors. The years which followed the intro- 
duction of representative government in Newfoundland 
were, unhappily, marked by strife and bitter contentions, 
leading to social discords, and, at times, to scenes of 



134 COMMERCIAL DISASTERS, [1814- 

turbulence and disorder, in connection with the elections 
of representatives. This was the price which had to be 
paid for liberty, and it proved to be heavy. To under- 
stand the causes of these troubles it must be remembered 
that the population of the colony was composed of two 
great bodies, differing in race and religion, whose numbers 
at this time were nearly equal. Half of the inhabitants 
were Roman Catholics of Irish descent, among whom it 
might naturally be expected memories of Old- World 
strifes, wrongs, and oppressions would be rife. The 
other half were Protestants, of English descent, who 
were, for a longtime, accustomed to hold the ascendency. 
These were headed by a wealthy mercantile class, who 
were not disposed to give up their time-honoured claim 
to rule. Further, as we have seen, Catholics had been, 
at one time, harshly persecuted ; and, though this had 
ceased long since, the memories of old wrongs and 
grievances were not yet effaced. 

21. When, then, representative government was intro- 
duced old jealousies and distrusts were revived. Each 
party dreaded the political superiority of the other, and 
each sought to gain the controlling power. Religion was 
unhappily dragged into the political arena. A licentious 
press stimulated the strife, and the worst passions were 
evoked. The peace of social and commercial life was 
disturbed by the political excitement of the hour. Some 
outrages, which were perpetrated by the more ignorant 
and turbulent, added fuel to the flame. Over this period 
of political and religious contention it is better to draw 
a veil, and consign the memory of it to oblivion. It 
produced only evil results, rancour, hatred, and evil pas- 
sions and seriously retarded the progress of the country. 

22. It should be understood that these contentions 
were onlv seriously felt at election- seasons, which re- 



1861.] COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. 135 

curred at intervals of four years ; and that the stormy 
passions thus evoked quickly subsided, and that the 
people forgot their differences, and lived in harmony. 
Apart from these political turmoils the population was 
orderly, and serious crime was almost unknown. Grad- 
ually both parties learned the folly of such proceedings 
and the injury they entailed. Each learned to respect 
better the rights of the others, and to recognize the 
equality which the constitution established. As kindly 
feelings prevailed a good understanding was restored, 
and old strifes were forgotten. In the present day the 
love of country is gradually rising above these strifes and 
contentions, and the people are learning that their true 
happiness is to be attained by living together peacefully, 
and labouring together to promote the interests of their 
common country, and to secure for it a high place among 
the rising communities of the New World. We can 
hardly expect that these political and sectarian strifes will 
disappear all at once. They have, unhappily, reappeared 
at intervals since the times we are describing, and always 
with injurious results. But, as intelligence spreads, and 
higher feelings are called into play, they will disappear 
forever. 

23. Notwithstanding these political disturbances the 
benefits of self-government were soon felt by the pass- 
ing of many useful measures in the Legislature. An act 
was passed for the erection of light-houses at various 
points along the coast. An annual vote of money for 
the promotion of education was adopted. An academy, 
for the promotion of a higher education, was established 
in St. John's. In 1834 Sir Thomas Cochrane was suc- 
ceeded by Captain Prescott, as Grovernor. Liberal grants 
of land were made to hundreds of poor families. The 
House of Assembly voted £30,000 for roads and bridges. 



136 COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. [1814- 

24. In 1841 Sir John Harvey was appointed govern- 
or. He used enlightened and energetic efforts to pro- 
mote agriculture and the settlement of the country. He 
founded an agricultural society, which accomplished much 
good. The Legislature appropriated £40,000 for roads 
and bridges, — a proof of the wonderful revolution 
people's ideas had undergone since the daj^s when the 
country was pronounced unfit for settlement, and only 
valuable as a rock on which fish might be dried. To 
remove all impediments to agriculture an act was passed 
which secured the sale of all crown lands, at a moderate 
price, to settlers. This proved to be an invaluable boon 
to the country. Other improvements followed. In 1840 
a mail sailing-packet was appointed to ply fortnightly be- 
tween St. John's and Halifax ; and, in 1844, this was 
followed by the first steam-packet bearing a mail for 
Newfoundland. 

25. While the country was thus prospering and im- 
proving, another terrible calamity from fire, greater by 
far than any of the preceding visitations, fell upon the 
capital, inflicting terrible losses, and for a time ch>ecked 
all progress. On the 9th of June, 1846, a fire broke out 
in the western end of St. John's which swept everything 
before it, and, before night closed in, three-fourths of a 
wealthy and populous city were a smoking mass of ruins. 
The rapidity of the terrible conflagration was owing in 
part to a high wind which prevailed at the time, and 
which hurled the blazing brands far and wide, and also 
to the fact that the greater part of the houses were 
wooden. Even the mercantile establishments, built sub- 
stantially of stone and brick, presented no barrier to the 
progress of the fierce conflagration, and, with a single 
exception, they were totally destroyed. Nearly all the 
public buildings except Government House perished. 



1861.] COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. 137 

The Post-office, Savings-bank, Bank of British North 
America, Custom-house, Police-office, Exchange Build- 
ings, Ordnance Store, and man}' others were burned to 
the ground. To add to the terrors of the scene, while 
the red tongues of flame were leaping from street to street, 
the huge oil-vats on the side of the harbour took fire. 
Liquid flames spread over the whole surface of the water, 
and set fire to a number of vessels. Before the day 
closed twelve thousand people were homeless, and prop- 
erty valued at a million pounds sterling was destroyed. 

26. Still there v>^as no abject despair among the 
people, though their condition was sufficiently dishearten- 
ing. Vessels were at once despatched for provisions. 
When news of the terrible calamity reached England a 
sum of £5,000 was sent for immediate relief, and Parlia- 
ment voted £25,000 more. To this was added a very 
large sum collected in the churches, under the sanction of 
a letter from the Queen to the Archbishops of Canterbury 
and York. The neighbouring colonies sent liberal con- 
tributions. Cheered by this generous sympathy, the 
inhabitants at once set to work to rebuild their city. A 
law was enacted prohibiting wooden houses in the busi- 
ness part of the town, and enforcing increased width of 
the streets. Some years afterwards an abundant supply 
of water was introduced ; so that St. John's is now as 
secure against fire as any other city of the New World. 
A recurrence of such a terrible conflagration as that of 
June 9, 1846, may be regarded as impossible. A much 
handsomer city has arisen on the ruins of the old, having 
improved sanitary arrangements, and abundant supply 
of excellent water and safeguards against fire. 

27. Another public calamity was destined to mark the 
memorable year 1846. On the 19th of September a storm 
of unexampled severity swept over the island, causing 



138 COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. [1814- 

an immense destruction of shipping-houses, fishing-stages 
and flakes, boats, and bridges, and in many instances 
engulfing the fruits of the fishermen's toils during the 
previous summer. These two calamities, in a single year, 
were a serious drawback to the prosperity of the colony 
for a long time. 

28. Sir Gaspard Le Marchant was appointed Gov- 
ernor in 1847. Previous to his arrival, a strong agitation 
had sprung up in favour of what is known as ' ' Responsible 
Government," a form of which had been already con- 
ceded to all the other North American colonies. The 
object was to attain a more complete power of self- 
government than the Constitution of 1832 had secured. 
The appointments to the principal offices in the colony 
were still held by the Crown, and were disposed of by 
the Governor and his Council. Under "Responsible 
Government," all such appointments were to be at the 
disposal of the party which commanded a majority in the 
Legislature. It was thus simply government according to 
the wishes of the people, as expressed in the choice of 
their representatives, and the executive wxremade respon- 
sible to the House of Assembly. This very reasonble 
demand was resisted for a time ; but at length conceded 
in 1854. Charles Darling, Esq., was sent out as the 
successor of Ker B. Hamilton, Esq., to introduce "Re- 
sponsible Government." 

29. The British Government entered into an agree- 
ment with the French, in 1857, for the purpose of settling 
disputed points in connection with the Newfoundland fish- 
eries. The terms of this agreement, when made known, 
were regarded as very unfavourable to the interests of 
Newfoundland. A storm of opposition arose, and dele- 
gates were sent to remonstrate with the British Govern- 
ment. The clauses in the agreement which gave offence 



1861.] COMMERCIAL DISASTERS. 139 

were at once withdrawn, and the Secretary of State for 
the colonies, in a despatch to the Governor, gave the 
assurance that " the consent of the community of New- 
foundland is regarded by Her Majesty's Government as 
an essential preliminary^ to any modification of their 
territorial or maritime rights." This, of course, was a 
complete guarantee of the power of the colony to 
regulate its own affairs, existing treaties being duly 
respected. 

30. " Responsible government " worked well. Educa- 
tion was fostered and extended ; more light-houses were 
erected to protect the mariners around a dangerous coast ; 
steam communication, both internal and foreign, was 
improved ; a telegraph line was built across the island. 
An increasing revenue enabled the Legislature to under- 
take these works of public utility. 

31. The year 1858 was marked by a great and 
important historic event. A sub-marine cable was suc- 
cessfully laid from the Irish coast to the eastern shores 
of Newfoundland, a distance of ] ,640 miles. On the 5th 
of August, 1858, the great enterprise was accomplished ; 
and the first telegraphic message between the Old World 
and the New was flashed across the island which Cabot 
had discovered three hundred and sixtj^-one years before. 
The fine geographical situation of Newfoundland , reach- 
ing out so far towards Europe, presented facilities for 
establishing communication b}' telegraph between the two 
hemispheres. Soundings previously taken in the Atlantic 
had proved that between Newfoundland and Ireland there 
is a great level submarine plain, a thousand miles wide, 
admirably adapted b}^ the hand of Nature for the recep- 
tion of the cable which constituted a nerve of communica- 
tion between the two worlds. But for these f acihties such 
communication might have been delayed for many years. 



140 QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. [1861. 

32. In 1860 His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales 
Adsited St. John's on his way to Canada. He met with 
a most loyal and enthusiastic welcome from all classes of 
the people. 

33. TJie 3'ear 1861 was darkened by poUtical com- 
motions, in which the old animosities, which had been 
long dormant, were once more revived. A change of 
government had taken place, and general elections were 
held in April, 1861. In a work like the present, designed 
mainl}' for the use of the young, it would not be profit- 
able or desirable to dwell upon the scenes of tumult and 
violence which unhappily took place. It is enough to 
mention that in Harbour Main one life was lost, and that 
in St. John's, during the suppression of a riot by the 
military, who were called out, three persons were killed and 
several wounded. Harbour Grace also was the scene of 
serious disturbances. The fact that for more than twenty 
years afterwards no similar scenes occurred at elections, 
may be hopefully regarded as a proof that a better spirit 
is prevailing, and that old animosities will gradually be 
forgotten. 

QUESTIONS FOE EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER XIII. 

1. In what condition was the country in 1814? 

2. What efEect had the Treaty of Paris on the fisheries? 
What advantage had French and Americans in the fishery? 

3. Wlien did the commercial crisis arrive? What caused it? 
Describe its effects on Newfoundland. What was the loss of the 
middle and working classes? 

4. How did the fishermen suffer? What was done to remove 
some of them? 

5. Describe the fire of 1816. 

6. What disturbances followed? 

7. Describe the losses by the fires of 1817. How many per- 
sons were houseless? 

8. Who sent relief to the people? 



QUESTION'S FOR EXAMINATION. 141 

9. How did the people bear their troubles? What improve- 
ments in the town were made on rebuilding? 

10. Who was the first resident Governor? 

11. What other towns suffered by fire? 

12. What injurious effects followed the losses by fire? 

13. What change in the form of government was now asked 
for? 

14. What beneficial change in the Supreme Court came 
in 1824? 

15. Who was Governor in 1825? What change was made in 
the form of government at that date? 

16« When were roads first made? Where did the first roads 
reach to ? 

17. When was representative government granted? What 
was its effect? Who obtained votes? 

18« What was the change made in the mode of conducting 
the fisheries? Was it beneficial? What destroyed the Bank 
Fishery? 

19. How did disturbances arise from the introduction of 
representative government? 

20. What divided the people and caused contentions? What 
evils were caused? What is the duty of people in order to pre- 
serve peace? 

21. Mention improvements under representative govern- 
ment ? 

22. Under Sir John Harvey's government what improve- 
ments took place ? 

23. What calamity happened in St. John's in 1846? De- 
scribe the fire. What buildings were burned? What was the 
loss? 

24. What relief was sent? 

25 » What injuries were done by the storm of 1846? 

26. What is " Responsible Government," and when was it 
granted? 

27. Give an account of the Convention about the fisheries 
in 1857. 

28. What improvements followed Responsible Government? 

29. What great event happened in 1858? 

30. What marked 18G1? 

31. Describe tlie troubles in the elections of 1861. 



142 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 



NOTES AND -EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER XIII. 

Commercial Panic of 1815-17. — The sufferings of the people 
during the commercial disasters which followed the close of the French 
war, in 1815, aggravated as they were by three successive conflagrations 
in St. John's, were tei-rible. The high wages during the prosperous 
years had attracted large numbers of emigrants ; and these continued to 
arrive during 1815, when the collapse in the fish-trade occuri'ed. Fam- 
ishing multitudes crowded St. John's in the following winter. 

Captain Buchan, the officer in charge of the troops, put his men on 
short rations, and drew from the commissariat stores 500 tierces of flour 
to be baked into biscuit, which was doled out to the starving applicants. 
The merchants and wealthier inhabitants did all in their power to "relieve 
the wants of the people. Their own stock of provisions was nearly ex- 
hausted, and their purses drained by such constant contributions as were 
called for. The spring of 1817 was dismal in the extreme. Enormous 
ice-fields around the coast stopped navigation for three months, and the 
sealing-vessels were so late in getting to sea tliat they returned with only 
37,000 seals, — a poor return for their labours. The summer of that 
year was almost as dismal as the winter had been. The catch of codfish 
was small, and the price low. Multitudes were unemployed. Then came 
the terrible fires of November, 1817, and the direst sufferings among 
the people. From the outports came piteous appeals to the Governor 
for aid to save the lives of the starving inhabitants. The winter was 
one of the severest on record. The harbour of St. John's was frozen to 
the very entrance, the ice being several feet in thickness. It was at 
this critical time that the benevolent people of Boston, hearing of the 
dii-e disti-ess in Newfoundland, raised a liberal subscription, and freighted 
a vessel with provisions for the relief of the sufferers. Fortunately, 
this vessel arrived in the middle of January, before the ice had closed 
navigation. She had on board 174 barrels of flour, 125 bags of meal, 
11 tierces of rice, 27 barrels and 963 bags of bread. The whole was 
consigned to Governor Pickmore, to be distributed among the poor. 

In acknowledging the timely offering the Governor said: "I confess 
myself unable to express in adequate terms, on behalf of those whose 
relief has been the object of the humane considex'ation of the inhabitants 
of Boston, the feelings which their generous act has excited. Individu- 
ally I desire to offer my warmest acknowledgments to them, and shall 
not fail to communicate to His Majesty's government this spontaneous 
act of liberality, which, in its effects, I trust, will tend to increase and 
cement more firmly the relations of friendship which now so happily 
subsist between the two nations." 

The foregoing words were written by Admiral Pickmore onl}' a 
month before his death. He was the first governor who resided in the 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 143 

island during the winter. He was Avell advanced in rears ; and the 
troubles and anxieties of his position during those trying times wore out 
his sti-ength. He died on the 24th of February, 1818. His remains, 
after lying for a time in the vault of the church, were placed on board His 
Majesty's sloop " Fly," with every mark of respect from the inhabitants, 
whose gratitude he had won by his untiring efforts to mitigate their suf- 
ferings. 

This took place on the 10th of March. So intense was the frost, as 
has been already stated, that, though several hundred men were employed 
in cutting ^passage through the ice in the harbour, for the " Fly " and 
other vessels which were ready for sea, three weeks were spent be- 
fore the object was accomplished. The ice was from three to five feet 
thick, and the distance to cut the channel was about a mile. The " Fly " 
reached England in twenty-eight days. 

The sealing-vessels made their way through these ice-channels, and 
soon returned well loaded with seals. An abundant cod-fishery fol- 
lowed, as generally happens after a severe winter, and the products 
brought much better prices. Hope revived in the breasts of the much- 
enduring people, and they went to work with renewed energies. The 
rich resources of the fisheries and their own native pluck and energy 
were such that calamities, however severe, could only prove temporary 
in their effects. Prosperity began to dawn, and their sufferings were 
forgotten. 

It is curious to note the line of action taken by the merchant-advent- 
urers who still carried on the fishery from England at this critical time. 
They still retained their old hostility to a population resident in the 
island, and were as jealous as ever of its interference with their monopo- 
ly. When the commei'cial crash took place they brought the distressed 
condition of the colony before the British House of Commons, and a 
select committee was appointed to investigate matters. Before this com- 
mittee the merchants appeared, and asked that either a bounty should be 
given them to enable them to compete, on equal terms, with the French 
and Americans ; or that the principal part of the inhabitants of New- 
foundland, then numbering 70,000, should be transported to Canada and 
the Lower Provinces. This removal of the inhabitants had been their 
favourite remedy for the relief of the fisheries for ages before. In 1670 it 
is on record that " the merchants, owners, and masters of ships, and in- 
habitants of the western parts of the kingdom, adventurers to Newfound- 
land, petitioned Charles II., that the resident inhabitants and then* 
families, then amounting to 3,171, should be removed to Jamaica, St. 
Christopher's, or some others of His Majesty's plantations." The 
" Merry Monarch " declined to carry out this humane suggestion ; and 
now the descendants of the same " adventurers " actually repeated the 
proposal in 1817, when 70,030 people would have to be deported. Of 
course the House of Commons paid no attention to this outrageous 



144 N'OTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 

demand, nor did they give a bounty to the merchants, which it was their 
real object to gain. They wisely left the colonists to grapple with their 
difficulties, and to conquer them by their own industry and perseverance. 
The consequence was that the fishery from England, by the merchant- 
adventurers, declined rapidly, and finally ceased, while that carried on 
from the shores of the island expanded and prospered, and, with the aid 
derived from agriculture, mining, and other resources, now sustains a 
population of 197,589. 

Cultivation of the Soil. — The "merchant-adventurers" were 
never weary in repeating to the British Government that th^ soil of the 
island was utterly unfit for cultivation. Their object was to prevent set- 
tlement, and, for this purpose, to obtain from the government enact- 
ments prohibiting any enclosures of land. It was naturally said, if 
nature has already prohibited cultivation and doomed the island to bar- 
renness, why need human laws raise further difficulties ? As a specimen 
of the mercantile view of the matter we may quote the words of a Mr. 
George Kempt, a merchant, who was examined before the Parliamentary 
Committee of 1817. He said : " The island is composed of rock of gran- 
ite and slate, with a very small surface of soil ; in many places none at 
all, and in very few above two or three wches. The only places where 
there is any quantity of soil sufficient for cultivation are ^Ae bogs /hut 
these cannot be drained. There is no limestone in the island, and no 
source of manure except a little sea-weed or the refuse of the fish. I 
beg, therefore, to suggest how much more eligible it would be for 
Government to carry the inhabitants" (at this time 70,000 in number) 
"to New Brunswick or Upper Canada." This veracious gentleman 
wanted to keep the island as a rock on which the servants of west-country 
merchants might dry fish, and to build up handsome fortunes for their 
employers. 

Only twenty-five years afterwards. Sir John Harvey became gov- 
ernor. He had enjoyed a large experience in the neighbouring provinces, 
and, in addressing the Legislature in 1843, he said : " Here I will not 
deny myself the satisfaction of recording this public declaration of my 
conviction, derived from such observation and information as a residence 
in the island for upwards of a year has enabled me to acquire : that both 
as respects climate and agricultural capabilities Newfoundland, in many 
respects, need not shrink from a comparison with the most favoured prov- 
inces of British America. Its summers, though short, enjoy an extraor- 
dinary degree of vegetative power, which only requires to be duly 
taken advantage of; its Avinters are neither unusually long nor severe, 
and its autumnal seasons are as open and as fine as those of any of the 
surrounding colonies. In point of rich, natural grasses no part of Brit- 
ish North Amei'ica produces greater abundance. Newfoundland, in 
fact, appears to me to be calculated to become essentially a rich grazing 
country; and its varied agricultural resources appear only to require 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 145 

roads and settlements to force them into highly remunerative develop- 
ments." 

Later still came the geological survey under Mr. Murray, who de- 
clared that, in the principal valleys alone, there were three millions of 
acres of land well adapted for settlement, without taking into account 
areas fitted for grazing, which were of very large extent. And yet for a 
long period these mercantile monopolists were able to dupe the British 
government and people, until it became a settled belief that this large 
island, with a healthy climate and good soil, situated in a temperate lati- 
tude, presented insurmountable obstacles to agriculture. 

It is but justice to state that the pioneer of agriculture in Newfound- 
land, in 1806, was Dr. William Carson, a native of Scotland, who for 
many years practised as a physician in St. John's, and was succeeded 
by his son. Dr. Samuel Carson. He courageously denounced the iniq- 
uitous laws which prohibited the cultivation of the soil, and by tongue 
and pen assailed the venerable system. He ran no small risk of being 
transported for his temerity, which, in those days, was regarded as treason 
against the government and mercantocracy. He persevered, however ; 
declared that the soil was equal to that of his native Scotland, and would 
well repay cultivation. He was regarded as a visionary, and subjected to 
ridicule and the coarsest abuse. But he lived to see his views approved 
by a large majority. In 1819 he obtained from the governor a grant of 
a tract of waste land near St. John's, where he cleared and cultivated a 
valuable farm, and practically illustrated his doctrines. Two other agri- 
cultural pioneers may be mentioned : Mr. H. P. Thomas, a merchant, in 
1827 cleared 250 acres, four miles from St. John's, and occupied it sev- 
eral years, until it repaid the whole of his outlay, when he leased it to a 
Scotch farmer, who is said to have cleared £4,000 during his occupancy. 
Mr. Robert Pack, merchant, of Carbonear, also obtained a grant of waste 
land, a mile from that town, which he brought to a state of excellent cul- 
tivation. These good examples stirred up the fishing population to enter 
on the cultivation of the soU, and the enclosure and reclamation of land 
rapidly advanced. It must be remembered, too, that these experiments 
were made near St. John's, where the soil is, perhaps, the poorest in the 
island. Now, by cultivation, the whole country round is transformed into 
smiling farms and covered with homesteads. When so much can be done 
with the poorest soil, what may be expected when the fertile valleys of 
the interior, where the harsh winds from the Atlantic are not felt, and 
where a higher temperature prevails, are occupied and cultivated ? The 
climate of the interior and of the western coast is unaffected by the Arc- 
tic current, which chills the eastern shores, and is much more favourable 
for growing and ripening crops of all kinds. 

The Banks of Newfoundland. —The Banks of Newfoundland 
are the mo^st remarkable submarine elevations in the world. They are 
at some distance from the shores of the island, the nearest being less 



146 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 

than 100 miles distant. It was once supposed that they had heen formed 
by masses of saud and rock, borne thither by the river St. Lawrence, 
the Gulf Stream, and the Arctic current. It is now known that they are 
immense rocky elevations, forming' submarine plateaus, whose eastern 
and southern borders descend steeply to a great depth. The Great Bank 
extends over fully 9 degrees of latitude from north to south ; from 
east to Avest it covers in some places 5 degrees. The depth of water 
on the Bank varies from 50 to 360 feet. Beyond the Grand Bank to the 
eastward lies the Outer or False Bank, upon which the sea is from 600 to 
900 feet in depth. To the west there are several smaller banks. At the 
west end of the Great Bank soundings have shown a depth of 9,000 feet. 
The depth around the Bank is from 10,000 to 15,000 feet. The fishing- 
grounds do not extend over the whole Bank, but have an extent of 
about 200 miles in length and 67 in breadth. For nearly 400 years this 
" cod-meadow " has been fished by large fleets of various nations, without 
showing any decrease in productiveness. 

The cod taken on the Banks are larger and finer in quality than the fish 
taken on the shores of the island or on Labrador, They are known as 
'• Bank-fish." An average of thirty Bank cod, when dried, will make a 
quintal. They bring a higher price than shore fish. The prevalent 
opinion is that the Bank cod are a different species from those taken on the 
shore. The eminent SAvedish naturalist, Sars, has recently proved by his 
researches that this is a mistake, and that the shore and Bank cod are really 
the same species. The Bank cod are merely the mature, full-grown cod 
that have reached their fourth year or upwards ; their habits at that age 
leading them to prefer the Banks to the shore as feeding-grounds. The 
two-year old and three-year old cod remain on the shore all the year, 
passing to and from the shallower water. When four years old their 
reproductive instincts are developed ; and after spawning they retire far 
from the coast, and are found on the submarine slopes and valleys 
of the Great Banks. On the Labrador coast and on Finmark, in 
Norway, great numbers of small cod are taken, from 18 to 22 inches in 
length ; and these are probably schools in their second or third year, 
which in a season or two, when mature, will change their mode of 
existence and become Bank fish. 

The cod begin to appear each year, on the coast of Newfoundland, 
about the 1st of June, and are preceded by enormous schools of caplin, 
on which they feed. On the coast of the island the fishing-season lasts 
about 143 days ; on Southern Labrador, 87 days ; on Northern Labrador, 
52 days. In October the cod begin to retire to their winter feeding- 
grounds in deep water, where they remain till the following June. Their 
migrations are thus from the deep water to the shallower water near the 
shore, which, being warmer in summer, is favourable for spawning. 
Each colony of cod appears to have its 6wn winter feeding-ground, in 
deep water, at no great distance from the coast, and passes thence to its 



CHRONOLOGY. 147 



summer-feeding and spawning-grounds by tlie shortest route. It is a 
peculiarity of the cod, and of all fish, that they return to the locality where 
they were spawned to " repeat the story of their birth " by a continua- 
tion of the species. Hence the same varieties of cod are found on the 
same fishing-grounds year after year, and are easily distinguishable, one 
from the other ; those taken at the north of the island, for example, being 
different fi'om the southern varieties. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY. — CHAPTER XIII. 

A.D. 

1815. Commercial disasters in Newfoundland. 

1816. Admiral Pickmore, first resident governor in Newfound- 

land. 
1816-17. Three great Fires in St. John's, N.F. 

1817. Death of the Princess Charlotte. 

1819. The Atlantic first crossed by Steam. 

1820. George IV. began to reign. 

1821. Death of Napoleon Bonaparte, at St. Helena. 

1824. Supreme Court reorganized in Newfoundland. 

1825. Louis XVIII. died. 

First roads made in Newfoundland. ■ 
1827. Battle of Navarino. 

1829. Catholic Emancipation granted. 

1830. William IV- began to reign. 

First Railway opened between Liverpool and Manchester. 
Charles X., of France, dethroned. 

1831. First Appearance of Cholera in England. 

1832. First Reform Act passed in England. 
Representative Government granted to Newfoundland. 

1833. Slavery abolished by England. 
1837. Queen Victoria began to reign. 

The Papineau and McKenzie Rebellion in Canada. 

1839. Penny postage in England. 
First Afghan War. 

1840. Marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. 
The two Canadas united. 

1842. The Ashburton Treaty between England and the United 

States. 
1842-49. " Amalgamated Assembly " in Newfoundland, 



148 CHRONOLOGY. 



1845. Famine in Ireland. 

1846. Great Fire in St. John's, N.F. 
Eepeal of the Corn Laws. 

1847. Responsible Government granted to Canada. 

1848. Responsible Government granted to Nova Scotia and New 

Brunswick. 
Third French Revolution — Louis Philippe dethroned. 

1851. First Submarine Cables between England and France. 
First Great Exhibition in London. 

Responsible Government granted to Prince Edward Island. 

1852. Submarine Cable between England and Ireland. 

1853. North-west Passage discovered by McClure. 

1854. Responsible Government granted to Newfoundland. 
Reciprocity Treaty between United States and British 

Provinces. 
Russian War — Battles of Alma, Balaklava, and Inkerman. 

1855. Fall of Sebastopol. 
Death of Czar Nicholas. 

1857. Mutiny in India — Massacre of Cawnpore — Sieges of 

Lucknow and Delhi. 

1858. Great Eastern Steamship launched. 
First Atlantic Cable laid. 

1861. American Civil War commenced — ended 1865. 
Death of Prince Albert. 



1861.1 IMPORTANT EVENTS. 149 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM 1861 TO 1884. 

IMPORTANT EVENTS. 

FAILURE OF THE FISHERIES. DESTITUTION AND SUFFERING 

EVILS OF PAUPER RELIEF. FIRST MINE OPENED 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. OCEANIC AND COASTAL 

STEAM SERVICES. IMPROVEMENT IN THE FISHERIES. 

FIRST RAILWAY. DRY DOCK OPENED. 

1, It now remains briefly to narrate the most important 
events in the history of the colony during the last twenty- 
four years. The first nine years of that period were 
marked by unproductive fisheries, which caused wide- 
spread destitution and much suffering among the people. 
Since 1855 a practice had grown up of distributing, out 
of the public funds, relief to those who were in want 
during the winter season. This dangerous system of 
giving pauper-relief to able-bodied persons soon pro- 
duced most injurious results. Many speedily learned to 
rely on this relief, and to look for it as a right each 
winter season. In consequence they became indolent 
and reckless, and made little effort to provide for them- 
selves by honest labour and economy. So numerous 
became the applicants for relief that at length they 
ceased to feel any shame at being placed on the pauper- 
list. Ere long nearly a third of the entire revenue was 
required for the relief of the destitute. The evil had 
reached such dimensions that the government found 
great diflficulty in dealing with it, especially when 
repeated failures of the fisheries had impoverished large 



150 IMPORTANT EVENTS. [1861*i 

numbers of the fishermen, who had no other means of 
subsistence. 

2. Sir Alexander Bannerman, the Governor, when 
opening the legislative session in 1860, referred to this 
condition of the working-classes, and urged that " no 
pains should be spared to give encouragement to agri- 
culture, and to every other source that can give employ- 
ment to the labouring classes, to prevent as far as possible 
their resorting to pauper relief." The revenue of 1861 
fell to £81,000, and the public debt, which had been 
mainly incurred in meeting the necessities of the 
destitute, now amounted to £180,000. The Governor's 
speech, in 1863, again announced " wide-spread 
pauperism," in consequence of the failure of the 
previous year's fisheries. In 1864 Mr. Anthony Mus- 
grave was appointed Governor. He had to repeat the 
same sad tale for four successive years, in addressing 
the legislators. No improvement in the fisheries took 
place, want among the people deepened and extended, 
and the financial condition of the country became worse 
and worse. During this period of depression large 
numbers of the people emigrated to the United States 
and Canada, despairing of their prospects in the colony. 

3. The cause of these sufferings was very easily dis- 
covered. The great bulk of the people were entirely 
dependent on the precarious fisheries, and, when these 
gave poor returns, they had no other resource on which 
they could fall back. The population had been steadily 
increasing. The census of 1857 gave the total population 
of the island as 124,288. The census of 1869 showed 
that the population had increased to 146,536. Mean- 
time the products of the fisheries had fallen off, and it 
became evident that a rapidly increasing population 

^ could no longer be sustained by a single industry. The 




BETT'S cove harbour, NOTRE DAME BAY. 



1884.] IMPORTANT EVENTS. 151 

plain remedy lay in opening up other sources of em- 
ployment for the people. The soil and climate were 
well adapted to the requirements of the farmer ; but the 
old restrictive system had repressed agriculture in for- 
mer periods, and the want of roads still rendered it 
impossible to settle the fertile valleys of the interior. 
With rich natural resources all around, large numbers of 
the people were sinking into destitution and misery. 
To all discerning minds it became cleaj' that the remedy 
lay in promoting the cultivation of the soil, and encour- 
aging other industries of a local kind, in which the sur 
plus population might find remunerative employment. 

4. It was at this dark period in the history of the 
colony that a most important discover}' was made, 
which aided largely in bringing about an improved con- 
dition of affairs, and in diffusing new spirit and energy 
among the people. This was the discovery of valuable 
mineral deposits on the shores of Notre Dame Bay, 
leading to the introduction of mining enterprises. The 
first copper-mine was opened at Tilt Cove, in the year 
1864:. The honour of being the pioneer in mining be- 
longs to Mr. C. F. Bennett, who for a length of time 
was almost alone in prosecuting the search for minerals 
in the island. The honour of being the actual discoverer 
of the first copper-mine belongs to Mr. Smith Mackay. 
In 1857, when exploring in the northern part of the 
island, Mr. Mackay found what proved to be a large 
deposit of copper ore, at a little fishing hamlet called 
Tilt Cove. It was not worked effectually by Messrs. 
Bennett and Mackay, the proprietors, till 1864. At the 
close of 1879 this mine had yielded neary 52,000 tons 
of ore, valued at more than a million and a half of 
dollars. In 1875 another copper-mine was opened at 
Rett's Cove, which, at the end of 1879, had yielded 



152 IMPORTANT EVENTS. [1861- 

125,556 tons of ore, valued at ^2,982,836. The total 
quantity of ore exported up to the close of 1879 
was valued at $4,629,899, or nearly £1,000,000 
sterling. A third mine was opened at Little Bay, in 
1878, which proved to be more valuable than either of 
the others. Various other mines have been worked with 
more or less success, and mining is now an established 
industry in the island, which ranks sixth among the 
copper-producing countries of the world. It is now 
known that there are in Newfoundland over 5,000 square 
miles of mineral lands, in which there can be little 
doubt rich discoveries await future explorers. 

5. The beneficial effects of this new industry were 
speedily felt. Hundreds received remunerative employ- 
ment at the mines. Capital was attracted to the coun- 
try. Large amounts of money were distributed as 
wages. The working-classes were better provided with 
the necessaries and comforts of life. A more hopeful 
and enterprising spirit was awakened ; and greater con- 
fidence in the future of the colony began to be felt. 

6. These hopeful views regarding the natural capa- 
bilities of the country were greatly strengthened and 
extended by the results of the geological survey of the 
island, which was commenced, under the auspices of the 
government, in 1864. This survey was conducted by 
Mr. Alexander Murray, assisted latterly by Mr. James 
P. Howley. The work was prosecuted for eighteen 
years. For the first time the natural resources of the 
country were examined and reported on by well-quali- 
fied, scientific men. People learned from the reports of 
this survey, published yearly, and on authority that 
could not be questioned, that the interior of Newfound- 
land contains many fertile valleys, in which thousands 
of industrious settlers may find homes ; extensive forests 



1884.] IMPORTANT EVENTS. 153 

of great value ; beds of coal, marble, aad gypsum ; and 
mineral tracts which the labours of many generations are 
not likely to exhaust. Messrs. Murray and Howley's 
reports showed that there are nearly three millions of 
acres more or less adapted for settlement, and immense 
tracts fitted for raising sheep and cattle. It Is now 
placed beyond all doubt that the island presents a prom- 
ising field for mining enterprises, and contains enough 
of fertile land to sustain a large population in comfort. 

7. The year 1869 brought a favourable turn in the 
tide of affairs, in the shape of abundant fisheries, — the 
first for nine years which could be called generally suc- 
cessful. Many of the people had been devoting them- 
selves more to the cultivation of the land, and the 
harvest of this year was good. The improvement in the 
fisheries in 1869 proved to be the commencement of a 
series of productive fisheries, which continued up to 
the summer of 1884, when a decline took place. This 
increase was accompanied by an advance in the price of 
the cod-fishery products in foreign markets. The sun 
of prosperity once more began to shine. The wonderful 
elasticity of the business of the country was shown in 
its rapid recovery from depression. Harvests proved to 
be fairly good. The^evenue derived from duties on im- 
portations increased as the people were able to purchase 
more freely the necessaries and comforts of life. In 
1871 the revenue amounted to £207,790, — the largest 
ever received. The new industry of mining advanced 
rapidly. The improved condition of the revenue per- 
mitted increased grants to be made for the construction 
of roads, bridges, wharves, light-houses, and other 
works of public utility. 

8. A general election took place towards the close of 
1869, when Sir Stephen Hill was Governor. The impor- 



154 IMPORTANT EVENTS, [1861- 

tant question was then submitted to the electors, whether 
steps should be taken to unite the colony with the newly 
formed Dominion of Canada, so as to constitute one of 
its provinces. The results of the election showed that a 
large majority of the people were opposed to confedera- 
tion with Canada. So strongly did public feeling show 
itself that the question of union with the Dominion has 
ever since been entirely laid aside. 

9. In 1873 direct steam communication with England 
and America was established. The arrangement entered 
into with the Montreal Steamship Company, for the con- 
veyance of mails, passengers, and goods, secured fort- 
nightly calls of homeward and outward bound ships of 
the Allan Line, at St. John's, during nine months of the 
year, and monthly trips, via Halifax, during the remain- 
der. The latter have recently become fortnightly trips 
also. The trade and commerce of the country were 
greatly benefited by this improved means of communica- 
tion with the outside world. Local steam communication 
between St. John's and the most important towns and 
settlements north and south was also improved and ex- 
tended. The interests of education were not forgotten. 
The legislative grant for the support of schools and 
academies was increased to $93|i^52 per annum. In 
1881 there were in the island 416 elementary schools, 
attended by 24,292 pupils, and 674 pupils attending 
the academies ; while there were 84 pupil teachers under 
training, to take charge of schools. In St. John's, 
factories of various kinds began to spring up, affording 
increased employment to considerable numbers. These 
have proved so successful that every year witnesses an 
increase of their number. 

10. These were all substantial and cheering improve- 
ments, indicating an advance of the colony in all the 



1884.] IMPORTANT EVENTS. 155 

great essentials of civilization. But the greatest stride 
in progress still remained to be taken. While in all the 
neighbouring colonies extensive lines of railway had 
been constructed and worked most advantageously, in 
Newfoundland not a mile of railway had yet been built. 
Now, however, when a knowledge of the great natural 
resources of the country had been diffused, and when 
the necessity of providing new means of employment 
for the increasing population had secured the attention 
of thoughtful men, the construction of a railway, to 
open up the country to industrial enterprise, began to be 
discussed. At first many objections were raised, and 
many shrank from the proposal, believing a railway to 
be unnecessary, and beyond the means of the colony. 
New projects of this kind are sure to encounter more or 
less opposition. The question, however, still pressed 
for solution: "What are we to do in the future, with 
our ever-increasing population, who cannot find suste- 
nance from the employment furnished by the fisheries ? 
Here are fertile lands and great forests. How are we to 
bring together the idle hands and the unoccupied lands ? " 
The project of a railway continued to grow in public 
favour, and, at length, in 1875, the Legislature voted a 
sura of money for a preliminary survey of a line from 
St. John's to St. George's Bay, which was carried out 
the same year. It was afterwards found that the British 
Government could not be induced to sanction the con- 
struction of this line, as its terminus would be on the 
so-called " French Shore," regarding which negotiations 
with France were then in progress. The matter, there- 
fore, had to be laid aside for a time. 

11. In the summer of 1876 the Fishery Commission, 
in connection with the Treaty of Washington, met in 
Halifax. The Hon. W. V. Whiteway was the delegate 



156 IMPORTANT EVENTS. [1861- 

from Newfoundland. The Commission awarded five and 
a half millions of dollars as compensation for fisheries' 
rights extended to the United States by the British 
Provinces. Of this sum Newfoundland received one 
million dollars. 

12. Sir John Hawley Glover was appointed Governor 
in 1876. He proved himself to be possessed of en- 
lightened and progressive views, and energetically urged 
forward public improvements. In order to acquaint 
himself with the condition of the country and the wants 
of the people he made repeated voyages to different 
places around the coast. In the autumn of 1878 he 
made a journey across the island from Hall's Bay to Ba}' 
of Islands. In opening the Legislature, the following 
year, he said : " My visit forcibljMmpressed me with the 
rich agricultural resources of this portion of the island, 
and the value of the forest lands, — provisions of nature 
destined soon to attract and reward large numbers of 
industrious settlers." 

13. During the legislative session of 1880 decisive 
steps were taken towards the construction of a railway. 
Sir W. V. Whiteway, premier, moved that the colony 
should, out of its own revenues, construct a railway of 
about 340 miles in length, from St. John's to Hall's Bay, 
in the mining district, having branches to Harbour 
Grace, Brigus, and other centres of population. Such a 
line, he showed, would open up the fertile lands in the 
valleys of the Gambo, Gander, and Exploits, and would 
connect the mining region and various populous districts 
with the capital. The question was referred to a joint- ' 
committee composed of members of both branches of 
the Legislature. Their report was highly favourable to 
the construction of this line of railway, and recom- 
mended that £1,000,000 sterling should be borrowed on 



1884.] 



IMPORTANT EVENTS. 



157 



the credit of the colony, aud the work at once com- 
menced. In the following year, 1881, the Legislature 
entered into a contract with " the Newfoundland Rail- 
way Company " for the construction and operation of this 
line, for which they agreed to give the company an annual 
subsidy, and also grants of land on each side of the 
railway. On the 9th of August, 1881, the first sod of 




GOVERNMENT HOUSE. 



the railway was turned. The event marks an important 
epoch in the history of the colony. In December, 1884, 
the first 86 miles of the line were completed and opened 
for traflSc, between St. John's and Harbour Grace, — the 
second town in the island. Large sums of money were paid 
to the labouring-class who were employed on the work, 
while the trading-classes also shared in the benefits. 

14. In 1881 Sir Henry Fitzhardinge Maxse was ap- 
pointed Grovernor. At the opening of the Legislature, in 
1882, Sir F. B. Carter, who acted as administrator of the 
government, in the absence of the Governor, caused by ill- 



158 ' IMPORTANT EVENTS. [1884. 

health, announced in the opening speech that the imperial 
authorities had at length authorized the local government 
to make land grants and issue mining licenses on that 
part of the coast on which the French have fishing- 
privileges. He also stated that the people residing on 
that part of the coast were in future to elect two repre- 
sentatives in the House of Assembly. Thus the boon 
for which the people of the colony had been pleading in 
vain for many years was at length granted. All restric- 
tions on the exercise of territorial rights were removed, 
and nearly one-half the island, hitherto closed, was now 
thrown open for settlement and industrial enterprise. 

15. Another great public work was entered on in 
1882. This was the construction of a dry-dock in the 
harbour of St. John's. The Legislature entered into a 
contract for its construction and operation with Messrs. 
J. E. Simpson & Sons, of New York. The cost of the 
construction, with all the necessary workshops and 
apparatus, was $550,000. The contractors afterwards 
agreed to take a lease of it for ten years, at $15,000 per 
annum, which leaves but $9,000 a year of interest to be 
paid by the colony. It is one of the largest and finest 
docks in the world, being 600 feet in length, 132 feet at 
its widest part, and having a draught of water of 25 feet 
over the gate-cill at high water. It is sufficient to admit 
the largest ocean steamer afloat, except the ''Great East- 
ern." The work was commenced in May, 1883, and com- 
pleted in December, 1884, when it was formally opened 
by the entrance into the dock of H.M.S. " Tenedos," in 
presence of an immense concourse of people. 

In 1883 Sir Henry Maxse died in St. John's, after a 
lengthened illness. Soon after, Sir John H. Glover was 
reappointed as Governor. He arrived in July, 1884, and 
received a cordial welcome from all classes. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION'. 159 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER XIV. 

1. In what condition was the colony from 1860 to 1869? = 
Point out the evils of giving pauper relief to able-bodied persons. 

2. What was the revenue and what the public debt in 1861? 
Who was Governor in 1864? What was the result of the depres- 
sion then existing? 

3. Point out the causes which led to the impoverished condi- 
tion of the people. What was the remedy? 

4. When and by whom was the first copper-mine discovered? 
Who was the pioneer of mining? Describe the amounts yielded 
by the mines till 1879. What is the extent of the mineral lands? 

5. What benefits flowed from the mining industry? 

6. Describe the commencement and results of the geological 
survey. What are the agricultural capabilities of the island? 

7. When did the fisheries begin to improve? Describe the 
results. 

8. What question was decided in the elections of 1869? 

9. Describe the arrangements for oceanic and local steam 
services. What improvements in education were effected? Give 
the number of schools and pupils. What was the benefit of fac- 
tories? 

10. What great step in progress was next taken? What 
necessity for railways existed? Point out their benefits. When 
was the first survey made ? 

11. What was the Fishery Commission? What its award 
to Newfoundland? 

12. Who was made Governor in 1876? What did he say of 
the country which he explored? 

13. Who proposed, in the Legislature, the construction of the 
first railway? Describe its progress. When was it opened to 
Harbour Grace? 

14. Who was Governor in 1881? What important change in 
connection with the so-called "French Shore" was made in 
1881? 

15. What great public work was entered on in 1882.? Give 
the particulars of the construction of the dry-dock. 



160 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER XIV. 

St. John's Water- Works. —The terrible devastations wrought 
' by fire in the capital at length taught the people the necessity of intro- 
ducing such a supply of water as would prove a safeguard against the 
destroyer. After the great fire of 1846 the city was rebuilt on an 
improved plan, the streets were widened, and fire-breaks provided. 
Wooden buildings in the business part of the city were prohibited. It 
was not, however, till 1860 that the present abundant supply of excellent 
water was secured. The water is conducted in pipes from \Yindsor Lake, 
five miles distant from St. John's, and situated at a height above it of 500 
feet. The pressure is thus so great that there is no need of engines, as 
water from the hydrants can be thrown over the highest buildings. The 
supply of water is abundant, and the consumption unrestricted. Three 
millions of gallons are run off daily in the city. The water is soft, pure, 
and excellent for all household purposes. There are efiicient volunteer 
fire-brigades. No fire of any considerable extent has occurred since the 
introduction of the water, and few cities enjoy greater security against 
fire, notwithstanding that two-thirds of it consist of wooden houses. 

The water-works were constructed by a joint-stock company, with a 
capital of ^400,000, the interest on which is guaranteed by government 
at the rate of five per cent., and paid by a rate levied on the consumers. 
The importance of such a supply of water cannot be overrated, as it has 
greatly improved the public health, and promoted habits of cleanliness 
among the working-classes, as well as provided a security against fires. 
The reduction in the rates of fire insurance since the new supply of water 
covers the water-rates. 

History of the Seal-Fishery. — While the cod-fishery has been 
prosecuted for nearly 400 years, the seal-fishery is not more than 80 years 
old, and may be said to date from 1805. Hackluyt, the historian of the 
early voyagers, tells us that " io 1593 there were on the shores of the 
island of Ramea, within the Straits of St. Peter, on the back of New- 
foundland, chiefly in April, May, and June, multitudes of amphibious 
ci'eatures called vaccce marince^ or morses, the two large teeth of which, 
resembling ivory, and their oil were considered as valuable articles of 
commerce; that Captain Drake found there a ship belonging to the 
inhabitants of St. Malo, almost full-freighted with morses ; that he also 
observed several whales of an enormous size, together with great num- 
bers of seals and porpoises, of which they killed several," Up to 1774 
this fishery referred to by Hackluyt was prosecuted around the island. 
The *' sea-cow or morse " of those days was the wah-us, and was valuable 
for its oil, skin, and tusks, the latter furnishing the best ivory. These 
tusks, two in number, hang from the upper jaw, and by them the walrus 
lifts itself on the ice. Gradually the animal became extinct in those seas, 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 161 

and is now confined to the Arctic regions. A whale-fisheiy was carried 
on from 1760 for a number of years in the gulf and river of St. Law- 
rence, to which the New England people at one time sent from 50 to 80 
vessels annually. A few whales are stiU taken in Fortune Bay, but the 
fishery is now unimportant. 

The first mention of a seal-fishery is by L'Abbe Raynal, who tells us, 
that, as early as 1763, some English fishermen used to repair to certain 
parts of the coast of Newfoundland, during winter, for the prosecution 
of the seal-fishery. This was an inshore net-fishery, and was carried 
on upon a smaU scale, and is still followed along shore, in some favourable 
localities. The fishermen place their nets between the shore and the 
islands or rocks lying at a short distance from it, and the seals, in passing 
these narrow places, are caught. 

The next step in the seal-fishery was the shooting of seals from large 
boats, which left port about the middle of April. As late as 1795 the 
whole catch of seals was under 5,0C0. Soon after, the sealing-boats gave 
place to small schooners of thirty to fifty tons, carrying twelve to fourteen 
men each, and not leaving port till after March 21st. Conception Bay 
led the Vv^ay in this new industry, aiad its people showed much energy, 
and many of them became wealthy in the prosecution of the seal-fishery. 
In 1807 about fifty of these small schooners were engaged in seal-hunt- 
ing from various ports. It proved so remunerative that its growth was 
rapid. In 1805, 81,088 seals were taken; in 1815, 126,315; in 1820, 
213,679; in 1830,558,942; in 1840, 631,385; in 1844, 685,530 seals, the 
largest number ever taken in one year. In 1857 there were nearly 400 
vessels, of from 80 to 200 tons, engaged in the seal-fishery, their united 
crews numbering 13,600 men, the total catch of that year being close 
on half a miUion seals, worth $1,700,000. The catch of seals has not 
increased since that date, and occasionally it has fallen low, as in 1882, 
when only 200,500 seals were taken, and in 1884, when 238,587 were 
taken. 

In 1863 the first steamer took part in this fishery. Since then the 
number of steamers has rapidly increased, and the number of sailing 
vessels has steadily diminished. The same work is now done by fewer 
hands, so that fewer men find employment in this industry. It is not un- 
likely that in a'few more years this fishery will be* entirely carried on by 
powerful steamers. In competition with steamers, sailing-vessels have 
but a poor chance of success. About 8,000 to 9,000 men are now 
engaged in it. Sailing-vessels are permitted to leave port for the ice- 
fields on the 1st of March ; steamers cannot leave till the 10th of March. 
In 1881 there were 24 steamers employed, but their number has since 
been reduced. Seven of those sealing-steamers come from Dundee, 
Scotland, each spring, and take their crew in Newfoundland. "When 
the seal-fishery terminates, these steamers proceed to the Arctic whale- 
fishery, returning to Dundee in October. 



162 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 

The Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. — These little 
islands, at the mouth of Fortune Bay, as we have learned in the course of 
this history, were ceded by Great Britain to France as a shelter for her 
fishermen. They are thus the only existing relics of the once great 
French empire in America, which stretched fi'om Hudson's Bay to the 
mouths of the Mississippi, comprising the present British possessions in 
North America and the great valley of the Mississippi, — or about one- 
half of the North American continent. The Jleur-de-lis had to withdraw 
from these regions one after the other, and now it only waves over these 
insignificant rocky islets. The British Lion has taken all, and left to 
France only the pi'ivilege of fishing on a portion of the coast of New- 
foundland, with St. Pierre and Miquelon for a shelter. 

To France these islands are of great value. Under the shadow of the 
ti'i-colour lives here a little world of fishermen, who, amid the perils of a 
stormy sea, ply their avocation. Fx'om the encompassing waters France 
derives an important part of her food supply. To their ports Spain sends 
yearly enormous quantities of salt, for preserving the precious gifts of 
the sea, which are found hei-e in inexhaustible abundance. Thousands 
of French fishermen repair to these bleak islets, not only to gather the 
sea-harvest, but to train themselves, by battling with the billows, for 
service in the navy of their country. 

The group of islets consists of St. Pierre, Grande-Mi quelon, and 
Petite-Miquelon or Langlade. The resident population now amounts 
to 5,000. Since 1783 the Grande and Petite-Miquelon have been united 
by a sand-bank. They are distant 135 miles from Cape Ray and Cape 
Race, the south-western and south-eastern extremities of Newfoundland. 
Great Miquelon is not more than three -foux'ths of a league in length. 
St. Pierre is much smaller, but contains the capital of the same name, 
and is three times more populous than the fox-mer. The Governor of the 
whole group resides at St. Piex-re. The town is surrounded by low hills. 
In the fishing season it px-esents quite an animated appearance, being 
crowded with the floating population from Fx-ance, which greatly exceeds 
the resident inhabitants. Vegetation on the islands is of the poorest 
descx'iption, only a few garden vegetables being grown. The climate 
resembles that of the ports on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Dense fogs 
prevail in summer, and often hang over them for days in succession. St. 
Pierre is the only good hax'boixr. Fifty or sixty fishing vessels are often 
seen lying securely in its watex's. The other harbours are unsafe when 
certain winds blow. 

More than three-fourths of all the codfish consumed in Fraixce come 
fx'om St. Pierre and Miquelon. Ofiicial returns show that durixxg the five 
years, ending in 1871, the catch of cod here averaged 15,425,086 kilo- 
grams. The same returns show that, for the five yeax-s ending in 1874, 
the average number of vessels employed was 76 ; of boats, 590 ; the total 
tonnage of which was 12,386 ; and the number of men employed, 5,335. 



CEEONOLOGT. 163 



In 1868 a French Cable Company was formed to lay a sub- 
marine cable between Brest and St. Pierre, and from the latter island to 
Duxbury , Massachusetts. This cable was successfully laid in 1869, three 
years after the successful establishment of telegraphic communication 
between Heart's Content, Newfoundland, and the British Isles, in 1866. 
Previously, in 1858, a cable had been laid over the same route, between 
Ireland and Newfoundland, but Avorked only for a short time. 



CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY. — CHAPTER XIV. 

A.D. 

1863. Prince of Wales married, 

1864. Canadian Confederation carried in Quebec Conference. 
First copper-mine opened in Newfoundland. 
Geological survey commenced in Newfoundland. 

1865. President Lincoln assassinated. 

1866. Dominion of Canada proclaimed. — Intercolonial Railway- 

authorized. 

1867. Second Reform Act in England. — Household suffrage in 

boroughs. 
1869. Irish Church disestablished. 

Newfoundland rejected confederation with Canada. 

1871. Treaty of Washington. 

British Columbia entered the Dominion. 

1872. Vote by ballot in England. 

1873. Prince Edward Island entered the Dominion. 

1874. Ashantee War. 

1875. First government railway survey in Newfoundland. 

1876. Fishery Commission met in Halifax. 

1877. Russo-Turkish War. 

1878. Treaty of Berlin. 
Second Afghan War. 
Zulu War. 

1881. Second Irish Land Act. 

First sod of Newfoundland Railway turned Aug. 9th. 

1883. Dry-dock, St. John's, N.F., commenced. 

1884. Third Reform Act in England. — Household suffrage in 

counties. Redistribution of seats. 
Railway to Harbour Grace opened. 
Dry-dock, St. John's, opened. 



164 CONCLUSION. 



CHAPTEE XV. 

CONCL US ION. 

RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. PROGRESS OF THE COLONY. 

— IMPROVEMENTS IN ST. JOHN'S. GENERAL PROS- 
PERITY OP THE PEOPLE. A GREAT FUTURE IN STORE 

FOR NEWFOUNDLAND. 

1, We have now bought the history of the oldest 
British colony down to the latest date. We have seen 
the vicissitudes and trials through which it has passed ; 
the misgovernment which so long retarded its prosperity ; 
the adversities from which it ever rose triumphant. In 
battling with their difficulties we have seen how its 
people gained in energy, courage, and intelligence, and 
won their freedom by their activity and patient endur- 
ance. A brighter and happier future now opens before 
them and their children. Their country is advancing in 
importance and strength, — in all that constitutes the 
essentials of well-being for a free people. They now 
regard it as a home for themselves and their posterity, 
which, byindustrj^ and wise guidance, may be beautified 
and developed into greatness, and made a country which 
will occupy a proud position among surrounding com- 
munities. 

2. That Newfoundland has recently made great and 
substantial progress, especially during the last twelve 
years, cannot be denied by any one acquainted with its 
condition. A glance at its capital furnishes abundant 
proof of this. The town of St. John's, which, at the be- 
ginning of this century, was a small collection of mean, 
wooden houses, huddled into a narrow space around the 



conclusion: 



165 



harbour, without auy sanitary arrangements, and con- 
tinually subject to devastations by fire, has grown into a 
well-built, prosperous city, of more than 30,000 inhabi- 




CHUBCH OF ENGLAND CATHEDRAL, ST. JOHN'S. 



tants. It possesses two stately cathedrals, handsome 
churches, creditable public halls, an athenaeum building, 
banks, stores of all kinds, mercantile premises, and 
shops of imposing dimensions, commodious and well- 



166 CONCLUSION. 



built houses, extensive wharves. Every year witnesses 
the erection of new and better houses for the accommo- 
dation of the increasing population. Its factories of 
various kinds, its iron foundries and machine-shops, 
give employment to large numbers, and testify to the 
healthy growth of native industries. Its supply of ex- 
cellent water is abundant. Its harbour can boast of 
what is believed to be the largest dry dock in the world. 
A railway has been commenced, which, in the course of 
years, will connect it with all the centres of population 
throughout the island. A busy, thriving population 
throng its streets. Its trade is very large. Lectures, 
concerts, and social entertainments of all kinds show 
that its people are advancing in culture and education. 
Its charitable and benevolent institutions and societies 
furnish ample proof that the poor are cared for. Nu- 
merous schools and academies show that the interests 
of education are not overlooked. Many improvements 
have yet to be introduced ; many reforms are needed ; 
but that genuine and striking progress has been made 
every one must allow. This is a guarantee of greater 
progress in the future. 

3. Other towns throughout the island are sharing, 
more or less, in the spirit of progress ; and, as they are 
more brought into connection with the capital, civilizing 
influences will be more felt. Harbour Grace is a hand- 
some town of nearly 8,000 inhabitants ; the streets are 
wide and well laid out. It is lighted with gas, and has 
an excellent system of water-works. Carbonear has 
also obtained an abundant supply of good water ; and 
will soon be reached by the railway. In Placentia, 
Trinity, Bonavista, Catalina, Twillingate, improvements 
are steadily making way. 

4, Turning to the general condition of the colony we 



CONCLUSION. 



167 



see on all hands evidences of progress. The revenue 
has more than doubled within the last twenty years, and 
now reaches nearly a million and a quarter dollars annu- 
ally. As it is derived mainly from duties on importa- 
tions, the increase of revenue shows an improvement in 
the condition of the people and in their means of pur- 




KOMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDKAL, ST. JOHN'S. 



chasing the necessaries and luxuries of life. Taxation 
is less than in any other British colony. In 1883 the total 
value of imports was $9,131,464; of exports, $7,996,- 
795. In 1870 the value of exports was $6,984,543 ; of 
imports, $6,655,849. The increase in thirteen j^ears is 
significant. In 1884 the value of the exports was 
$9,061,186. On December 31, 1883, the registered ton- 
nage of tlie colony was 1,988 vessels, of which 27 were 



168 CONCLUSION. 



steamers, having a tonnage of 91,767 tons. In the 
same year 55 new vessels were built in the country, 
their tonnage being 2,330 tons. At the beginning of 
this century the whole population was 20,000 ; now it 
has reached 197,589. 

5. That the cod-fisher}^, the staple industry of the 
country, is not declining is evident from the fact that, 
in 1883-84 no less than 1 ,733,417 quintals of dried cod- 
fish were exported, so that the catch in 1883 was the 
largest on record. In that year the volume of trade (im- 
ports and exports combined) was in value $17,128,259, 
— an amount not reached in any previous year. Road- 
making has been carried on since 1825, and now over 
$100,000 annually are spent in making and repairing 
roads and bridges. There are at present about 727 
miles of postal roads, and 1,730 miles of district roads, 
while many more miles are in course of construction. 
The fine steamers of the Allan Line make weekly calls 
at St. John's, and afford speedy means of communica- 
tion with Britain and America. Local steamers connect 
the principal outports with the capital. All these indi- 
cate an increase in wealth and in the appliances of 
civilized life. 

6. As yet only the fringe around the coast of the 
island is occupied. The fertile lands, the great forests 
of the interior, are still untouched. The mineral treas- 
ures are barely opened ; the coal-beds are yet undis- 
turbed. When these are turned to account the population 
of the island will be reckoned by millions. Sooner or 
later this gTeat island is destined to be overspread by 
a thriving, industrious population who will utilize its 
splendid resources. 

7. Thus facts warrant us in predicting a great future 
for Newfoundland. In its treasures of sea and land, of 



CONCLUSION. 



169 



forest and mine, Nature has bestowed on its people a 
noble heritage. The riches of its encompassing seas are 




COCHRANE-STREET METHODIST CHURCH, ST. JOHN'S. 



inexhaustible, — " greater than the gold and silver mines 
of Mexico and Peru." Three centuries have failed to 
show any diminution in their value, though ever-increas- 
ing drafts have been made on those treasures of the 



170 CONCLUSION. 



deep. The Great Banks, 600 miles in length, with their 
swarming fish-life, are but a day's sail from the shores 
of the island. In its dependency of Labrador the 
colony has another fishing-ground of incalculable value. 
In the summer of 1883 there were taken on Labrador 
650,000 quintals of codfish, and the total value of its 
produce that year was $2,592,000. The seal-fishery, 
prosecuted at a time when no other marine industries are 
practicable, yields an average of a million and a quarter of 
dollars annually. The geographical position of the island 
for commercial purposes could not be surpassed ; it is 
but 1,640 miles from the coast of Ireland ; it commands 
the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; its noble 
bays stretch their arms inland from 50 to 100 miles ; its 
harbours are among the finest in the world. Before 
many years have passed, a steam-ferry will connect it 
with the eastern terminus of the Canadian system of 
railways. Among the wonders in store for the future 
it is not impossible that the shortest and safest travel- 
route between the Old and New World should yet be 
found across the Island of Newfoundland. 

8. The present population of Newfoundland has 
sprung from two of the greatest and most energetic races 
of the world, — the Saxon and Celtic. In the healthy, 
invigorating; climate of the island the blood has not 
deteriorated. Its climate is admirably fitted to nurture 
a people of great physical power and mental energy, 
who will be able to hold a distinguished place among the 
English-speaking communities of the New World. 
To this end they should take care that their educational 
system shall keep pace with their material prosperity ; 
that no child shall be allowed to grow up in ignorance ; 
and that due provision be made for the higher education 
which is needed to promote the intellectual life of the 



CONCLUSION, 



171 



people. Many of the troubles of the past have arisen 
from differences in race and religion among the people. 
Thence have come, at times, jealousies, antipathies, and 




ST. ANDREW'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ST. JOHN'S. 



injurious contentions. In the better spirit which now 
prevails these will graduall}^ disappear. The distinc- 
tions of English, Scotch, and Irish, Protestants and 
Catholics, will merge into the common name of New- 



172 



CONCLUSION. 



foundlanders, which «1I will be proud to bear; and the 
love of a common country will obliterate (he differences 




KOMiN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL, HABBOnE MACE. 

and rivalries of the past. Then the great rivalry will be 
as to who can turn to the best advantage the gifts of 
Pi-ovidence, an.l most effectually advance the best inter- 
ests of a free, united, and happy people. 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. 173 



QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION ON CHAPTER XV. 

1. What of the better future now opening for Newfoundland? 

2. Give proofs of recent progress in the capital. Enumerate 
the public buildings. What shows social advance? 

3. What improvements have been made in other towns? 

4. What proofs of progress does the condition of the colony- 
show? Give the value of imports and exports in 1870 and in 
1883. What was the value af exports in 1884? Give particulars 
of the shipping. 

5. How many quintals of codfish were exported in 1883-84? 
What of roads? 

O. What are the prospects of settling the interior? 

7. Why may we believe in a great future for Newfoundland? 
Show the value of the Labrador fisheries, and of the seal- 
fishery. Show the advantages of the geographical position of the 
island. Why is it likely to be the shortest travel-route between 
Europe and America? What of the people and their future? 
What has been the cause of social disturbances in the past? 
How are these to be avoided in the future? 



174 NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. — CHAPTER XV. 

The People of Newfoundland — Their Physique. —New- 
foundlanders are, in their general physique, a powerfully built, robust, 
and hardy race. They and their fathers have buffeted the billows, 
fought the terrible ice-floes, and drunk in the health-giving sea-breezes 
Engaged largely in open-air occupations, and breathing an invigorating 
atmosphere, a strong, energetic race has grown up, who are well-fitted 
for the world's rough work. From the hardy, much-enduring race who 
have been developed here, often fighting cold and hunger, drawing their 
scanty subsistence mainly from the boisterous seas, fearlessly pursuing 
their avocations amid storms and ice-fields, will spring a people who, 
when duly educated and cultured, may be expected to play a worthy 
part in the world of the future. The noblest nations of the earth, past 
and present, were not nurtured amid the flowers of the south, but in the 
cold and stern north, where nature had to be conquered by labour and 
sweat of brow, and where the barren wilderness had to be transformed 
by hard toil into the waving cornfield. Kingsley, in his " Ode to the 
North-East Wind," says : — 

Let the luscious south-wind 

Breathe in lovers' sighs, 
While the lazy gallants 

Bask in ladies' eyes. 
What does he but soften 

Heart alike and pen? 
' Tis the hard, gray weather 

Breeds hard Englishmen. 

What's the soft south-wester? 

'Tis the ladies' breeze, 
Bringing borne their true loves 

Out of all the seas ; 
But the black north-easter, 

Through the snow-storm hurled, 
Drives our English hearts of oak 

Seaward round the world ! 

Come as came our fathers, 

Heralded by thee, 
Conquering from the eastward, 

Lords by land and sea. 
Come, and strong within us 

Stir the Vikings' blood, 
Bracing brain and sinew, — 

Blow, thou wind of God ! 



NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS. 175 

Names of Places. — The changes in names of places are curious, 
and sometimes difficult to trace. Carhonear Avas formerly written 
Carboneir, and was originally Carboniero (Spanish or Portuguese 
evidently). Torbay, in old books, is Thorne-Bay. Bay of Bulls is said 
originally to have been Baboul Bay ; ethers make it a corruption of the 
French Bate de Boules. Trepassey Bay, Anspach says, was formerly 
Ahram Trepasse. Fermuse was anciently Fermosc or Fermosa, — beauti- 
ful. Renewcs, formerly Renowes, or Rcneaa's Harbour. La Poile, so 
named by the French from its supposed resemblance to a frying-pan. 
Great Burgeo Island is also called Eclipse Island, from the fact that 
Captain Cook observed an eclipse of the sun there in 1765. Point 
Enragee, so named from its exposed situation. Cape Spear, near St. 
John's, was originally Cape Espere or Espoir, or Cape Hope. Great 
Bruit, great noise ; Rose Blanche, white rose ; Bay-of-Cinq-Cerfs, or 
Five Stags, explain their own origin. The small river which falls into 
the head of St. John's Harbour was once called Little Castor's River, a 
name not heard now. 

Richard Hakluyt, whose narratives of early voyages and dis- 
coveries are so valuable, and so often quoted, was a clergyman of the 
Church of England, and at one time prebendary of the cathedral of 
Bristol. He was born in 1553, and studied at Christ Church, Oxford. He 
made a special study of geography, or cosmography, as it was then called, 
and was made a lecturer on this subject at Oxford. He took an active 
part in encouraging and directing the spirit of discoveiy in those days. 
He was associated with Sir Walter Raleigh in his effort at planting Vir- 
ginia. In 1589 he published his " Collection of Travels," in one volume, 
folio, which he afterwards enlarged and published in three volumes, folio, 
under the title, " The Principal Navigations and Discoveries of the Eng- 
lish Nation, by sea or overland to the remote and farthest distant quarters 
of the earth, at any time within the compass of these 1500 years." Hak- 
luyt also published or edited translations of several foreign narratives of 
travellers, from Avhich was published a " Selection of curious, rare, and 
early voyages, and histories of interesting discoveries, chiefly published 
by Hakluyt, or at his suggestion, but not included in his celebrated 
compilation: 4to, London, 1812." He died in 1616, and was buried in 
Westminster Abbey. His accounts of the early voyages to Newfound- 
land and the adjacent countries are of great value. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX I. 

EARLY HISTORY OF THE ATLANTIC CABLES. 

The story of the laying of the first Atlantic cables 
possesses a romantic interest ; and, in connection with 
it, Newfonndlancl was destined to play an important part. 
On its shores the little cord which first bound together 
the Old World and the Xew found a resting-place, as it 
emerged from the depths of the ocean. From that 
moment the great crystal dome of the Atlantic became 
a whispering-gallery between two worlds. On the light- 
ning's pinions thought flew between East and West. 
Modern civilization obtained a new birth. Humanit}' 
throbbed with a new life and a great hope. The English- 
speaking communities on opposite sides of the Atlantic, 
the leaders in the van of civilization, were united ; and 
from that instantaneous inter-communication of thought 
what vast possibilities are opened up for the improve- 
ment and happiness of the race ! Once more time and 
space were annihilated. " And I saw a great angel 
stand with one foot on the sea and another on the land ; 
and he swore by Him that liveth, that time shall he no 
more.'' The grand old prophecy has received a partial 
fulfilment. 

Mr. Cyrus Field was the life and soul of the great 
enterprise ; and to him, more than to an}^ other man, 



178 APPENDIX. 



the civilized world is indebted for its successful com- 
pletion. 

Others, no doubt, rendered important aid, and merit 
all honour. But his was the strong faith in the possi- 
bility of the work being done which never wavered amid 
disappointments and discouragements ; and his the hope 
that he and his band of comrades should do it, which 
bore them triumphant over every failure. His fervid 
faith and buoyant hope proved contagious, and inspired 
even the cool calculators on the Loudon and New York 
Stock Exchange, so that they were willing to drop million 
after million of dollars into the depths of the Atlantic on 
the bare chance of success. His inspiring hope lifted 
speculation into a higher and nobler atmosphere, and 
moved even cautious statesmen to render aid. For thir- 
teen long 3^ears he clung to his great thought, like another 
Columbus, when Others jDronounced him a wild fanatic ; 
and on the 5th of August, 1858, his wire touched the 
New World, and the first message was transmitted. 

Previous to this, in 1851, the Legislature of New- 
foundland had been the first to encourage Mr. Field and 
his friends, by granting them a most liberal charter in 
connection with the enterprise, which secured to them 
exclusive rights. Without this charter Mr. Field him- 
self confessed that he could not have obtained the neces- 
sary money from capitalists. The first words in the 
Act which secured these privileges were as follows : 
" WJiereas it is deemed advisable to establish a line of 
telegraphic communication between America and Europe 
by wa3^ of Newfoundland." The charter granted to his 
company the exclusive privilege of landing cables on the 
shores of Newfoundland for fifty years ; but this was 
subject to the right of preemption by the government 
at an}" time after twenty years. "• 



niSTOBY OF THE ATLANTIC CABLES. 179 

The first step was to establish communication between 
Newfoundland and Cape Breton, by a cable across the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, thence to Canada and the United 
States. When this was accomplished, the governments 
of Great Britain and the United States agreed to furnish 
ships to take soundings across the Atlantic and to assist 
in laying the cable. In the summer of 1857 the first 
attempt to lay the cable was made ; but, after a few hun- 
dred miles were laid, it w^as lost. In the summer of 
1858 the attempt was renewed. The cable was success- 
fully landed on the 5th of August. It continued to 
work till the 1st of September ; but, after four hundred 
messages had passed over it, the cable ceased to work. 
The enterprise at once fell into discredit, and its pro- 
moters were reckoned lunatics. Ten thousand dollars 
of the stock sold in New York for a ten-dollar green- 
back, and in London, a thousand pounds for thirty guin- 
eas. Few expected that the enterprise would ever be 
renewed. But Mr. Field never despaired ; and, after 
unparalleled efforts, he succeeded in raising capital to 
make a new and better cable, which was loaded on board 
the "Great Eastern," in 1865. Once more disaster 
came. After twelve hundred miles of cable had been 
successfully payed out, the cable broke in water two 
miles in depth. With the greatest difficulty enough 
money was obtained to make a new cable, which was 
successfullj^ laid, in 1866, and continued to work most 
satisfactorily. Not only so, but the end of the lost cable 
of 1865 was found and raised from a depth of two miles, 
and the laying triumphantly completed. Mr. Field was 
the hero of the hour. The world rejoiced over the com- 
pletion of the great work. 

Additional cables followed soon after. In 1871 
another cable was laid along the same route ; a fourth 



180 APPENDIX. 



in 1873, and a fifth in 1880. The first cable of 1858, 
having been imperfectly constructed, has been aban- 
doned ; and at present there are five cables between 
Newfoundland and Ireland. 

In 1869 the French Cable Company laid a cable from 
Brest to St. Pierre ; thence to Duxbury, Massachusetts. 
The same company laid a second cable in 1879. In 
1875 the Direct United States Cable Company laid a 
cable from Ireland to Torbay, in Nova Scotia ; thence 
to Duxbury. In 1881 and 1882 two "American 
cables" were laid, and in 1884 the two Mackay-Bennett 
cables. 

There is, however, one name seldom mentioned in 
connection with this great enterprise to which due 
honour has not been accorded. The man who pioneered 
the way for telegraphic communication across the Atlan- 
tic, and who was the practical prime-mover of the un- 
dertaking, was Mr. Frederick N. Gisborne, F.R.S.C, 
Engineer and Electrician, and at present G-overnment 
Superintendent of the Telegraph and Signal Service of 
the Dominion of Canada. Mr. Gisborne is an English- 
man, of an old Derbyshire famil}^ In 1848 he was 
employed by the government of Nova Scotia in estab- 
lishing telegraphic communication between Halifax, 
Canada, New Brunswick, and the United States. The 
late Hon. Joseph Howe, who at the time of his death 
was Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, has published 
a statement, dated February 12, 1867, in which he says, 
that in 1850 Mr. Gisborne laid before the Telegraph 
Commissioners in Halifax a plan for connecting New- 
foundland with the continent of America by a sub- 
marine cable, and spoke confidently of being able to 
extend it across the Atlantic, arid connect Europe with 
America. " Up to this time," says Mr. Howe, " I never 



HISTORY OF THE ATLANTIC CABLES. 181 

heard the idea suggested ; and, though readhig the Eugiish 
and American papers, never saw an allusion to the 
practicability of such an enterprise." Now, if Mr. Gis- 
borne had done nothing more than strike out this project, 
and if it had remained a mere thought in his mind, with- 
out producing fruit, he would be entitled to a compara- 
tively slight meed of praise. Tlie possibility or the 
probability of establishing electric communication across 
the Atlantic might occur to many minds, and vague sug- 
gestions to that effect might come from many quarters. 
Professor Morse, as early as 1843, from some of his ex- 
periments, wrote as follows to the Secretary of the 
United States : " The practical inference from this law 
is, that a telegraphic communication, on the electric-mag- 
netic plan, may with certaint}^ be established across the 
Atlantic ocean. Startling as this may seem now, I am 
confident the time will come when this project will be 
realized." A vast number of experiments and much 
toil of hand and brain were needed before this prophecy 
could be fulfilled, though the suggestion of such an 
eminent electrician as Professor Morse might set other 
minds working on the project. The true maker and in- 
ventor is not he who merely strikes out a thought, but 
who works out that thought into a practical result which 
the senses can appreciate, so that the vague idea takes 
form and substance and becomes a reality. Others may 
coine after him, and vastly extend and improve his first 
imperfect attempt, and they deserve due recognition and 
praise ; but the original inventor is he who produces 
the first tangible result. 

Let us test Mr. Gisborne by this rule. He did not rest 
satisfied with striking out a plan, he proceeded to carry it 
into practical eflTect. He succeeded in interesting a num- 
ber of capitalists of London and New York in the pro- 



182 APPENDIX. 



ject, and formed "The New York and Newfoundland 
Telegraph Company," of which he was Superintendent 
and Engineer. He came to Newfoundland, and in 1852 
the Legislature passed an act conferring the important 
privileges upon his company, in eveut of the completion 
of the project in Newfoundland, which the Atlantic 
Telegraph Company afterwards possessed. He went to 
work with energy, and commenced the construction of 
a telegraph line 400 miles in length, from St. John's to 
Cape Ray, over a most difficult country. In surveying 
and superintending this line he had to encounter the 
severest hardships, and to wrestle with Innumerable 
difficulties. At great pecuniary sacrifice and risk of 
health he carried out the work. In 1852 he laid down a 
submarine cable between Prince Edward Island and 
New Brunswick, 11 miles in length, across the Straits 
of Northumberland. This was the first American sub- 
marine cable. Only one submarine cable was then in 
existence, namely, the cable between Dover and Calais, 
laid down by Brett, in 1851. It remained to lay down 
another cable between Cape Ray and Cape Breton. When 
that was done steamers then running between St. John's 
and Galway would shorten the time of receiving news 
between London and New York by four or five days. 
So much would be gained as a first step. Then would 
come Mr. Gisborne's greater stride of spanning the 
Atlantic by a cable, which he had propounded three years 
before. 

But at this point, before he succeeded in laying the 
cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, misfortune over- 
took the great enterprise. Only a small amount of 
capital had been subscribed, and in 1853 the company 
became involved in pecuniary difficulties. Mr. Gisborne 
went to New York to endeavour to raise additional capi- 



BISTORT OF THE ATLANTIC CABLES. 183 



tal. Here accident brought him into communication with 
Mr. Cyrus W. Field, to whom he unfolded all his plans. 
At that time Mr. Field knew nothing of telegraphic 
matters, and had just returned from travelling in South 
America, with the intention of enjoying the fortune his ■ 
industr}^ and sagacity had secured ere he had arrived at 
the middle term of life. As he listened to Mr. Gis- 
borne his keen, sngacious mind took in the whole 
grand enterprise, which seems at once to have fired his 
whole being. He had hardly slept till he was in com- 
munication with Professor Morse and Lieut. Maury, as 
to the possibility of laying down a wire and sending an 
electric current across the bed of the Atlantic. Their 
replies gave him increased confidence. He got several 
great capitalists to join him, such as Mr. Peter 
Cooper, Mr. Moses Taylor, Mr. Marshall O. Roberts, 
and Mr. Chandler White. They purchased from Mr. 
Gisbornethe privileges of his company for £8,000. Mr. 
Field and others started for Newfoundland in the middle 
of March, 1854, and in April the Legislature passed the 
act already referred to, which gave his company the 
exclusive right of lauding cables on the shores of 
the island for fifty years, subject to preemption after 
twenty years. Then Mr. Field's great career com- 
menced as the leader of the enterprise. Mr. Gisborne 
was appointed chief engineer of the new company. 

We would not for a moment detract from the great 
services which Mr. Field thus rendered to the cause of 
civilization. His heroic perseverance in the face of dif- 
ficulties that would have overwhelmed ordinary men ; 
his unflinching confidence in the ultimate triumph of his 
enterprise ; his self-sacrificing labours in connection 
with it ; his penetrating, far-reaching insight into its 
importance to the world, — all these merit the highest 



184 APPENDIX. 



admiration and praise. Mr. Field will be remembered 
as long as telegraphs unite the Old World and the New. 

But while we give him his full meed of applause, let 
us not forget the far-seeing engineer, who not only 
struck out the idea at first, but took the first steps 
towards its practical realization, pioneered the way, and 
showed how it was to be done. Had it not been for 
the work he accomplished, and the length he attained 
towards success, Mr. Field and the great capitalists 
would hardly have been induced to venture their money in 
such an enterprise. With the name of Mr. Cyrus W. Field 
should be associated that of Mr. Frederick Newton Gis- 
borne, the originator of the great enterprise. 

Should auy doubts be raised as to whether Mr. Gis- 
borne entertained the larger project of spanning the 
Atlantic with a cable, the following extracts, which have 
been published from Mr. John Brett's letters to Mr. Gis- 
borne, will settle the question in all candid minds. In 
1853 Mr. Gisborne was in correspondence with Mr. 
Brett, the founder of submarine telegraph}' in England, 
with the view of enlisting his cooperation in his project. 
Mr. Brett entertained his proposals most favourably ; 
and, under date "London, July 8th, 1853," having pre- 
viously received Mr. Gisborne's plans, he wrote as 
follows : ' ' On my return from Paris I found your satis- 
factory letter of 4th June. Let me recommend you to 
secure in our joint names an exclusive privilege for 
establishing a submarine telegraph between Newfound- 
land and Ireland for fifty years." 

It was when courageously preparing the way for this 
enterprise that Mr. Gisborne's company broke down, 
through failure of funds, and that, as we have seen, he 
transferred its interests to Mr. Cyrus W. Field. 



HISTORY OF THE ATLANTIC GABLES. 185 

111 support of Mr. Gisbonie's claims, I am permitted 
to cite the following letter from D. J. Henderson, Esq., 
of St. Johns, who was associated with Mr. Gisborne in 
the original enterprise : — 

St. Johns, N.F., May 9, 1885. 
Rev. M. Harvey : — 

Rev. AND DEAR Sir, — In compliance with your request to 
state what I know regarding- Mr. F. N. Gisborne's claim to be the 
originator of the plan to connect Newfoundland with Ireland by a 
submarine cable, I beg to say that I was present at the first 
meeting held in Mr. Field's house, New York, at which Mr. 
Gisborne first unfolded his plans to Mr. Field and his friends. 

This meeting took place about February I5th, 1854:. I heard 
Mr. Gisborne, oh this occasion, first explain his plan of connect- 
ing Newfoundland with the American continent ; and he then un- 
folded a map on which he had traced the course of a submarine 
cable from Newfoundland to the coast of Ireland, Mr. Field at 
once remarked, in reference to the latter part of his project, " Ah, 
this puts a different complexion on the whole thing ! " 

It was this idea of uniting the two continents, by a cable across 
the bed of the Atlantic, which appeared forcibly to arrest the at- 
tention of Mr. Field, and to give the project its supreme value in 
his eyes. Mr. Gisborne distinctly outlined this plan, in my pres- 
ence, to Mr. Field and his friends who were present, namely, 
Messrs. M. Taylor, M. 0. Roberts, and C. White. 

Yours very truly, 

D. J. Henderson. 

The following facts regarding the lengths of the prin- 
cipal submarine cables of the world are of interest. 
They are derived from the Dominion map projected by 
Mr, F. N. G-isborne, and published in 1883 : — 

Length iu Knots. 

First Atlantic cable, 1858 2,200 

5 cables from Ireland to Newfoundland, average . . 1,870 
From Newfoundland to Sydney, C.B., -ym Placentia Bay, • 280 



186 APPENDIX. 



From Newfoundland to Sydney, via St. Pierre 
From France to St. Pierre ..... 

From St. Pierre to Massachusetts .... 
From England to Nova Scotia direct 
From Nova Scotia to Massachusetts .... 
Total cable distances from England to Australia, via India 
Total cable distances from England to China, via India 
Hong-Kong to Japan, via Shanghai .... 
Total length of submarine cables laid up to 1883 



.800 

2,584 

749 

2,540 

500 

10,334 

9,879 

1,668 

60,000 



PROJECTED LINES. 

Knots. 
Total cable distance from England to Cliina, via Canada, 7,920 
Hong-Kong, China, to New Guinea ..... 2,000 
New Guinea to Port Darwin, in Australia . . . 800 

Total cable distance from England to Australia, -yia Canada, 10,780 



APPENDIX II. 

VALUE OF THE FISHERIES. 

The principal commercial fishes taken from the waters 
around Newfoundland and Labrador are the cod, the 
seal, the herring, the salmon, and the lobster. The cod- 
fishery is by far the most important, its products aver- 
aging in value three-fourths of the entire returns of the 
fisheries. If we take three years, ending in 1882, 
the total value of the codfish taken in that time was 
$18,102,728, so that the average annual value of the 
cod-fisher}' at present is $6,034,242. This calculation 
includes the dried codfish exported, the qnaiitit}' con- 
sumed by the population, and the oil extracted from the 
fish. 



VALUE OF THE FISHERIES. 187 



FRENCH COD-FISHERIES. 

The value of the codfish taken by the French on that 
portion of the coast of Newfoinidland over which their 
fishing privileges extend is at present $279,436 per 
annum. In addition the French carrj^ on the Bank 
fishery. In 1879 they had employed in the Bank and 
shore fishery 7,168 men, 177 vessels, of 27,865 tons, 
and the quantity of codfish taken was 369,628 quintals, 
the value of which was $1,342,544. 



SEAL-FISHERY. 

The average number of seals taken in three years, 
ending 1881, was 435,413 ; their annual average value 
was $1,026,896. 

HERRING-FISHERY. 

The chief centres of the herring-fishery are Labrador, 
St. George's Bay, Bay of Islands, Fortune Bay. The 
average annual value of the herrings exported and con- 
sumed in the country is $581,543. 

SALMON-FISHERY. 

The average annual value of the salmon exported is 
$114,505. 

LOBSTER-FISHERY. 

The annual average value of lobsters exported is at 
present $104,184. 

The foreo'oino- fio-uves show that the total average 
value of all the fisheries is close on eight millions of 
dollars per annum. 



188 APPENDIX. 



NUMBER OF FISHERMEN. 

According to the census of 1873 there were 45,845 
persons employed in fishing and curing fish. At present 
that number has increased to about 54,000. 

In 1874 the number of able-bodied fishermen in the 
colony was 26,377 ; at present they number about 33,000. 



APPENDIX III. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

The best answer to the assertion, so often repeated, 
that the soil of Newfoundland is unfit for cultivation, is 
that, even on the limited and imperfect system now 
pursued, the average annual value of agricultural prod- 
ucts is $612,350 ; and the value of the land now under 
cultivation, together with the cattle, sheep, and horses, 
is $2,500,000. 

The geological survey has shown that in the regions 
near and surrounding St. George's Bay, including the 
Codroy valleys, there are 730 square miles suitable for 
settlement. Bay of Islands, including the valley of the 
Humber, Deer Lake, and Grand Lake, contains 630 square 
miles suitable for settlement. These valleys are, for the 
most part, covered with valuable timber. In the Gander, 
Gambo, and Terra-Nova valleys there are 1,700 square 
miles available for settlement. The Exploits valley and 
Red Indian Lake, with the lands surrounding the estuary 
of the Exploits, contain 1,620 square miles. Thus, in 
these great valleys alone, we have 4,650 square miles, 
or 2,976,000 acres, fit for settlemeut, and capable, when 
cultivated, of sustaining in comfort a large population. 



AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 189 

In addition to these large and extensive tracts there are 
many smaller portions of excellent soil around the heads 
of the bays, along the margins of the smaller rivers, 
and on several of the islands. When we add to these 
the land already under culture around the various settle- 
ments, and the wide area in the peninsula of Aval on, 
which is admirably adapted for cattle and sheep raising, 
we have 2,000,000 acres more ; or, in all, 5,000,000 acres 
fitted for agricultural and grazing purposes. What the 
interior proper may contain is yet unknown. 

FORESTS. 

The chief varieties of forest timber are white-pine, 
white and black spruce, tamarack or larch, fir, yellow 
and white birch. In the Gander districts alone there 
are, according to the geological survey, 850 square 
miles of pine lands, or, including some of the neighbour- 
ing regions, a total area of 1,000 square miles. Mr. 
Murray pronounces this a splendid lumbering region, 
where an immense timber trade could be successfully 
carried on. Groves of pine are occasionally found here 
in which the average girth of trees is nine feet, and 
many individual trees reach twelve and even fourteen 
feet. Other timber regions are the valley of the Exploits, 
Red Indian Lake, the valley of the Humber, and the 
valleys around St. George's Bay, and in the Codroy dis- 
trict. The soil in these districts, when cleared, will 
yield cereal and other crops in abundance. 



1 90 APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX lY. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

So far as explorations and mining operations have 
gone Newfoundland ranks high among the copper-pro- 
ducing countries of the world. The chief seat of copper- 
mining is around the shores of Notre Dame Bay. The 
ore is found in connection with the serpentine rocks, and 
these rocks are spread over an area of 5,000 square 
miles, most of which is 3'et unexplored. Up to 1879 
the value of copper and nickel ore exported was 
$4,629,889, or nearly £1,000,000 sterling. Gold has 
been found, but as yet onl}- in small quantities. Rich 
deposits of lead-ore have also been found in several 
places, especially at Port-a-Port. Gypsum is found in 
immense developments, and marbles on both eastern and 
western shores. Roofing-slate is another valuable 
material found in abundance. The coal area of St. 
George's Ba}^ is 25 miles wide by 10 in length. 



APPENDIX V. 

GOVERNMENT. 



The form of government consists of a Governor, who 
is appointed by the crown, and whose term of office is 
usually about six years ; an Executive Council, repre- 
senting the part}" commanding a majority in the Legis- 
lature, and consisting of seven members ; a Legislative 
Council, or Upper House, of fifteen members, nominated 



GOVE UN ME NT. 



191 



by the Governor in Council, and holding office for life ; 
and a House of Assembly, of thirty-three members, 
elected ever}' four years by the votes of the people. 
The seventeen electoral districts, sending thirty-three 
members, are divided as follows : — 



St. John's, East 








Members. 

3 


St. John's, West 








3 


Harbour Grace . 
Carbonear 








2 
1 


Harbour Maine . 








2 


Port de Grave . 








1 


Bay de Verds . 
Trinity ... 
Bonavista . . . 








1 
3 
3 


Tvvillingate and Fogo 








3 


Ferryland . 

Placentia and St. Mary's 








2 
3 


Burin 








2 


Fortune Bay 
Burgeo and La Poile . 
St. George 
St. Barbe . 








1 

1 
1 

1 



An Act of the Legislature, passed in the session of 
1885, gives one additional member to each of the 
three districts of Harbour Grace, Bay de Verds, and 
Twillingate and Fogo, in consequence of the increase 
in their population as shown by the Census of 1884. 
The House of Assembly will in future consist of 36 
members. 

The right of voting is conferred on every man who 
for one year immediately preceding the day of election 
has occupied a dwelling-house within the island, either 
as owner or tenant- 



192 APPENDIX. 



Tile Supreme Court is composed of a Chief-Jastice and 
two assistant judges, appointed by the crown. The 
Court of Labrador has civil and criminal jurisdiction 
over such parts of Labrador as lie within the govern- 
ment of Newfoundland. It is presided over by one 
judge, who is appointed by the Governor in Council. 



APPENDIX YI. 

EDUCATION. 

The interest in education is deepening and extending. 
A liberal provision is made for it by the Legislature, 
amounting now to $93,952 per annnm. The improve- 
ments already secured afford sufficient guarantees of 
future progress. Each religious denomination receives 
a grant for education from the public funds in pro- 
portion to its numbers. Separate Boards of Education 
in the different districts have charge of the schools. 
Three superintendents are appointed by Government, — 
one for Roman Catholic schools, one for Church of Eng- 
land, and one for Wesleyan schools. 

In 1881 there were in all 416 elementary schools. Of 
these 157 belonged to the Church of England, 158 to 
the Roman Catholics, 99 to the Methodists, and 2 to 
the Congregationalists. The total number of pupils in 
the elementary schools was 24,292. 

" The Colonial and Continental Church Societ}'," 
originally " The Newfoundland School Society," has 
done much for the cause of education in Newfoundland. 
It commenced operations in 1823, and ma}' be said to 
have initiated common-school education in the island. 
It has still 20 schools in operation, attenc^d by 2,295 



EDUCATION. 193 



scholars. Its ceiitml school, iu St. John's, is largely 
attended, and is used by tbe Church of England Boards 
of Education as a training-school for their teachers, 
male and female, twenty teachers being sent out every 
year. 

The Christian Brothers have in operation a school in 
St. John's, attended by about 400 pupils. The school- 
rooms are admirably arranged and equipped ; the in- 
struction imparted is deservedly spoken of in the highest 
terms, and an excellent educational work is carried on. 

The academies and grammar schools are attended by 
674 pupils. There are but two grammar schools, — one 
in Harbour Grace and one in Carbonear, — both of which 
are well conducted, and have rendered, and continue to 
render, good service to the cause of education. The 
four academies are in St. John's, and are conducted on 
the denominational principle. They are well-managed, 
efficient institutions, having each a full staff of compe- 
tent teachers, and imparting a superior education. All 
of tliem prepare pupils for the universities. St. John's 
has lately been made a centre of the London Universit}^, 
and already two pupils from the Roman Catholic Acad- 
emy, or St. Bonaventure College, and two from the 
Wesleyan Academy, have passed the matriculation ex- 
aminations with much credit. 



194 APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX VII. 

RELIGIOUS DEN03IINATI0NS. 

CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 

" The Societj' for the PropagatioD of the Gospel m 
Foreign Parts " first sent a missionary to Newfoundland 
in 1703. In 1787 the first colonial bishopric was 
created, — that of Nova Scotia, to which Newfoundland 
was attached. It was not, however, till 1827 that 
Bishop lugiis, of Nova Scotia, was able to visit this por- 
tion of his extensive diocese. He found but 9 clergy- 
men and missionaries in the whole island. In 1839 
Newfoundland and the Bermudas were erected into a 
separate diocese, and the Rev. Aubrey S. Spencer was 
appointed Bishop of the new See. In 1844 Bishop 
Spencer was succeeded b}- Dr. Edward Feild, of Queen's 
College, Oxford, who continued Bishop till his death, in 
1876. His successor was Dr. J. B. Kelly, who was 
compelled b}' failing health to resign, in 1877. In 1878 
he was succeeded by the Rev. Llewellyn Jones, D.D., 
who is now Bishop of the diocese. 

The diocese is now divided into 8 deaneries, and the 
number of clergy is 50. The total number of churches 
in Newfoundland and Labrador is 102. 

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

The Roman Catholic Church in Newfoundland was 
first publicly organized in 1784, by the appointment of 
Dr. O'Donnell, as Prefect Apostolic, by Pope Pius VI. 
In 1796 Dr. O'Donnell was appointed Vicar Apostolic 



BELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 195 

and Bishop. In 1807 he was succeeded by Dr. Patrick 
Lambert, who held office till 1817, when Dr. Thomas Scal- 
lan was appointed Bishop. He died in 1830, and wag 
succeeded by Bishop Fleming, who held office till 1850, 
when Dr. Mullock was appointed as his successor. He 
held office till his death, in 1869, and in 1870 the present 
bishop, the Rt. Rev. Thomas Joseph Power, was conse- 
crated, in Rome, by His Eminence Cardinal Cullen. In 
1856 Newfoundland was divided into two dioceses, St. 
John's and Harbour Grace, Dr. Dalton being the first 
Bishop of the latter ; and his successors were Rev. 
Henrj^ Carfagnini, and Dr. Macdonald, who is the 
present Bishop. In the St. John's diocese there are 
now a cathedral, 26 churches, besides chapels, 29 priests, 
a college, 13 convents, and a female orphanage. In the 
diocese of Harbour Grace there are a cathedral, 14 
churches, besides chapels, 16 priests, and 5 convents. 
In the prefecture apostolic of St. George, West New- 
foundland, there are 3 churches and 3 priests. 

WESLEYAN METHODISM. 

The Rev. Lawrence Cochlan was the first Wesley an 
missionary, in 1765. In 1814 Newfoundland was con- 
stituted a separate district, with a superintendent. In 
1840 there were 14 ministers and 10 local preachers. 
At present Newfoundland is constituted a separate 
conference, with a president, and is divided into 3 
districts, — St. John's, Carbonear, and Bonavista. The 
total number of ministers is 49 ; of churches, 44. 

CONGREGATIONALISM. 

Congregationalism dates from 1775. In 1779 the Rev. 
John Jones was ordaiued in England to be minister of a 



196 APPENDIX. 

church in St. John's. There are now two additional 
Congregational churches, — one at Twillingate and one 
at Rendell Harbour, and two mission stations at For- 
tune Bay. 

PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The first Presbyterian church was organized in 1842, 
of which the Rev. Donald A. Fraser was minister. A 
Free Church Presbyterian congregation was formed in 
1848, in St. John's, and a second, in Harbour Grace, in 
1855. The two congregations in St. John's united in 
1877, and built St. Andrew's Church. There is a 
Presbyterian mission station at Bay of Islands, and 
another at Little Bay Mine. 



POPULATION. 



197 



APPENDIX VIII. 

POPULATION. 

The earliest estimate of the resident populatioD of the 
island was made in 1654, when it was ascertained that 
there were 350 families, in 15 different settlements, 
numbering about 1,750 persons. In 1698 the population 
was 2,640. In 1763 the population was 7,080 ; in 1785, 
10,000; in 1804,20,000; in 1825, 55,719; in 1832, 
60,000; in 1836, 75,094; in 1845, 98,703; in 1857, 
124,288; in 1869, 146,536; in 1874, 161,374. The 

The census of 1874 gave the numerical strength of 
the different relioious denominations as follows : — 



Roman Catholics . 


64,317 


Church of England 


59,561 


Wesley an s . 


35,702 


Presbyterians 


1,168 


Congregationalists 


461 


Baptists and others 


165 



The following is an abstract of the census taken in 
1884. It will be seen from it that the increase during 
the last decade has been 36,209 or 22.43 per cent. 
As the immigration during that period has been very 
small, and has probabh' been more than counterbalanced 
by the emigration, the increase shown by the recent 
census has been solely from natural causes, and proves 
that the people are in a health}^ and fairly prosperous 
condition. Few countries have a normal rate of increase 
so high as Newfoundland. 



198 



APPENDIX. 



Abstract of Census of 1874. 



Districts. 



St. John's East 

St. John's West 

Harbour Main 

Port-de-Grave 

Harbour Grace 

Carbonear 

Bay-de-Verds 

Trinity Bay 

Bonavista 

Twillingate and Fogo 

Ferryland 

Placentia 

Burin 

Fortune 

Burgeo and La Poile 

^ St. George's and St. Barbe 

Total 

Labrador 

Total 





Church 


Roman 


Metho- 
dist. 


Total. 


ofEng- 
land. 


Catho 
lie. 


17,811 


3,985 


11.200 


1,838 


12.763 


2,551 


8,746 


1,088 


7,174 


1,716 


5,361 


97 


7,919 


3,415 


2,002 


2,501 


13,055 


7,239 


4,013 


1,615 


5,488 


939 


2,189 


2,362 


7,434 


439 


1,775 


5,220 


15,677 


8,417 


1,583 


5,663 


13,008 


6,860 


2,599 


3,531 


15,135 


6,989 


1,956 


6,172 


6,419 


173 


6,246 




9,857 


1,351 


8.254 


239 


7,678 


1,633 


2,689 


3,351 


5,788 


4,391 


1,387 


8 


5,098 


4,216 


125 


731 


8,654 


3,768 


3,716 


991 


158,958 


58,072 


63,841 


35,407 


2,422 


1,489 


476 


295 


161,380 


59,561 


64,317 


35,702 



Others. 



788 



1 
188 



14 
18 
18 

13 

5 

2 

2^ 

179 



162 



1,800 



'In 1874 St. George's and St. Barbe were not separate districts, and, for corn- 
parison, their population is also united in the table for 1884. St. George's has a 
total population of 5,535, of which 3,393 is Roman Catholic, 1,878 Church of Eng- 
land, 147 Methodist. St. Barbe has a total population of 6,498, of which2, 910 is 
Church of England, 1,639 Methodist, 1,872 Roman Catholic. 



POPULATION. 



199 



QJ 


,_i 


O GO rH t- »0 


COCOCCJCOCO-^COODlO 


o 


^ 


o 


aa 


CO 


CO 




CO CO * * o --^ ^ 


o 


o 


t^ 


2 


iM 






.-1 T-H * * 


o 


c^^ 


CO 


a 

































>J5 00 QO CM lO CO 



t 

o 


lO lO >0 »0 CO 00 Cq lO o o 

c^coco-*coioocoi^cr> 

O O C^ CO lO 00 CO uo o_ 

r-T rH ^^ 


• -* Ol CO ^ lO 

• (>) C5 C<1 CO >0 
; i-H CO IQ GO 


CO 

s 


o 


CO 


6 . 
1^ 


COCOtMCOCOOCOOO — C^l 

oc^jco-T^i'+icqo^GsOco 
ei c-i c<r .-T c<r o" t>^ io~ o 


. CO CO CO i-O CO 
' CO 'rf GO CO -f 
• CO C<J (M 00 


CO 
CO 
CO 

oo" 


o 

CO 


CO 
CO 



ooooi-^rHcocoi—iocooiM'OOi^c?: 

COCOlOOt^t-t-I^OOt~t-CO* COtM-rH 
Ot^^CN* r-lrHCOr-t CO <N lO 



ads 



OC50COCM(M.-l^O<MCOCO^I^(MiO 
OOC^O'+iCOiOiOl^COr-irHOOOiOCO 

c<i>ooo(MCic^iCit^oi'-icoaicocof-ic<j 



CO O CO C<) CO (M 1-1 



(M CO CO Oi (M 1-H 



'^COOCOCOOCjO"-+'(MroOiOCOO 
O O -tH — ' Ci O -A- lO CM I-H CO O CO t^ O 'M 
r-(CO(MCOCOrH -^l-OC<J* rHrHt-OlO 



o 
1 d~ 
1^ 



Cit^COrHtMCJOcO'— '"OrH^OOCOCiOO 
CO O ICl CO CO C^l CO l^ CO t^ 'O -* Oi CO r-H 00 
O <M O^^ l-;^ CO^ O -* 00 CO t^ r-H IQ L^ .-( --1 t^ 

lo" CO >-H^ CO co" i-T (^"co'co^ .-Ti-ricTio"^" 





0-*C^)CO(MCOOCOxhi^'-lCOCCCOCOC75 

<M CO -T^l CO CO OO CC (M 1-- lO IQ I- +1 (M ^ t^ 

0>0l— l^Ot^GiCO^r-H O. Or-H-rfCO 

^CO" r-T T^ COCOiO l-Ti-rr-rrHCcT 


O 
<M 

CO 


CO 


co~ 

CO 


o 


O t- O lO 1-- '^ OO l-O CM C5 O CO CO -* ^ CO 
^ CTi rH CO rH (M O O 00 00 l~- CO C<l -H ^ CO 
00_Cv|^C5 CO^t- C0^-^__O^-+' (>1^ -^^ 00 L- c: lO^O 
rn" o" QO'" Oo" 'rl^" Co" 00*" CT Co" O --o" rn" 00~ Co'~ Co" C^T 


CO 

CO 

co" 

C5 


(M 


C5 ■ 
00 






o 



Ti o 



o 

O 

a- 
^^ 



'o ^. 



f-i <D -V , 

a; »T "S OJ} t^ .^ : Qj 



'.O 



^H H ^ ^ ^ ^ 



+i C3 Q >.^ C3 W r-l v^ r- iv _l _< l_i _J 

coWpHWoppHpqeHpRPHppf^w 



CO 



■*"ti ^-d 




-^ ^CS 


ited 
147 

ic. 

Ch 
rch. 


P „ O « 3 






lation is 
rch of E 
72 Roma 
Ferrylan 
e Reforn 
England. 


popu 
8 Chu 
st, 1,8 
22 in 

of th 
ch of 


their 

,1,87 

thod 

and 

bers 

Chur 


son, 
aolic 
9 Me 
ogo, 
mem 
the 


pari 
Cat 
1,63 
d i 
401 
sof 


com 
man 
and, 
te an 
a are 
mbei 


l^l'lla 


-.2^::= *^ a, 


'^"^S^^-O 


P§ O > > '^ 


^«^:C2a 




•n .2 ;a .^ -o ■^ 






sepal 
5,535 
ich 2, 
de-Vc 

been 


e not 
ion of 
ofwh 

Bay- 
Burin 

have 


•be wer 
populat 
f 6,498, 
ed 9 in 
nd 5 in 
ce these 


rt- 2 ?§ « fl 


n 5 = S sT.s 






mil 




Pi^lifii-g 


. Geoi 
t. Geo 
as a t 
chof 
71 in I 
222, a 


ai'^ZB^E 


^ .^^,^» 


' J ^ b O rt CD 




1-^ «. CO 2 tH OJ 


iln 
for 1 
St. 
*T1 
e dec 
ity th 


■S- a.g 


$-^ P5H 



200 APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX IX. 

REVENUE, IMPORTS, AND EXPORTS. 

In 1880 the revenue was $897,474 ; iu 1881, $1,003,- 
803; in 1882, $1,119,385; in 1883, $1,251,987; in 
1884, $1,170,602. 

The exports in 1881 were, in value, $7,648,574; in 
1882, $8,228,291; in 1883, $7,996,795; in 1884, 
$9,061,186. 

The imports in 1880 were, in value, $6,966,243 ; in 
1881, $6,863,708; in 1883, $9,181,464. 

The public debt in 1881 was $1,351,008, or about 
%1 per capita. A sinking-fund has been established for 
its liquidation. 



APPENDIX X. 



LIST OF PREMIERS UNDER RESPONSIBLE 
GOVERNMENT. 

1854.— Hon. Philip Francis Little. 

1858. — Hon. John Kent. 

1861. — Hon. Hugh Hoyles (afterwards Sir Hugh). 

1865. —Hon. F. B. T. Carter (afterwards Sir F. B. T.). 

1869. —Hon C. F. Bennett. 

1873. —Hon. F. B. T. Carter. 

1878. -—Hon. W. Y. Whiteway (afterwards Sir William 

Vallance Whiteway) . 
1882. — Sir William V. Whiteway. 
1885. — Sir William Y. Whiteway 



LIST OF GOTERXORS OF JS'FWFOUKDLAXD. 201 



APPENDIX XI. 

LIST OF GOVERNORS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 
Appointed. • 

1729. — Captain Henry Osborne, R.N. 
1731. — Captain Clinton, 
1734. — Captain Lord Visconnt Musker3^ 
1737. — Captain Vanburg. 

1740. — Captain Right Hon. Lord George Graham. 

1741. — Captain Hon. John Byng. 
1744. — Captain Sir Charles Hardy. 

1749. — Captain Lord George Brydges Rodney. 

1750. — Captain Francis H. Drake. 
1753. — Captain Bonfoy. 

1755. — Captain Dorril. 
1757. — Captain Edwards. 

1760. — Captain Yf ebb. 

1761. — Captain Lord Graves. 
1764. — Captain Palliser. 

1769. — Captain Hon. John Byron. 
1772. — Commodore Molynenx, afterwards Lord Shuld- 
ham. 

1775. — Commodore Duff. 

1776. — Rear-Admiral Montague. 
1779. — Rear- Admiral Edwards. 
1782. — Vice- Admiral John Campbell. 
1786. — Rear-Adrairal Elliot. 

1789. — Admiral Mark Milbanke. 
1792. — Admiral King. 
1794. — Admiral Sir James Wallace. 
1797. — Vice- Admiral Waldegrave. 
1800. — Vice-Admiral Pole. 



202 APPENDIX. 



Appointed. 

1802. — Admiral Lord Gambler. 

1804. — Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower. 

1807. ~ Admiral Hollowaj. 

1810. — Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Duckworth. 

1813. — Vice-Admiral Sir Richard G. Keates. 

1816. — Vice-Admiral Pickmore. 

1818. — Captain Bowker (Administrator). 

1818. — Admiral Sir Charles Hamilton. 

1825. — Captain Sir Thomas Cochrane. 

1834. • — Captain Henry Prescott. 

1841. — Major-General Sir John Harvey. 

1846. — Lieutenant-Colonel Law (Administrator). 

1847. — Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant. 
1852. — Hon. James Crowd}^ (Administrator). 
1852. — Ker Baillie Hamilton. 

1857. — Hon. Lawrence O'Brien (Administrator). 

1857. — Sir Alexander Bannerman. 

1864. — Hon. Lawrence O'Brien (Administrator), 

1864. — Anthony Musgrave. 

1869. — Sir Stephen J. Hill, K.C.M.G., C.B. 

1876. — Sir John Hawley Glover, K.C.M.G. 

1880. — Sir Fred. B. T. Carter (Administrator). 

1881. — Sir Henry Fitzhardinge B. Maxse. 
1883. — Hon. Edward Morris (Administrator). 

1883. — Sir Fred. B. T. Carter (Administrator). 

1884. — Sir John H. Glover, K.C.M.G. 



FEJ5SS NOTICES. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 

Price Eighteen Shillings Sterling, 

NEWFOUNDLAKD, 

THE OLDEST BRITISH COLONY. 

LONDON : CHAPMAN AND HALL, 1883. 

American Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 

BOSTON : DOYLE & WHITTLE, 1883. 

450 Pages. Price $2.50. 

MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. ^ 

Opinions of the English Press. 

{From the Fortnightly Review.) 

This work on Newfoundland is a difficult task, extremely well executed. 

Take it all in all it is an admirable account of the oldest English Colony, plainly 

written, pleasantly illustrated, and unique as the hest, as it is undoubtedly the 

most recent work on the country. 

{From the London Academy.) 
A section is devoted to the interesting history of Newfoundland, the battles of 
the early settlers for their freedom, their patient loyalty under many provoca- 
tions to a contrary course, the attempt to make it a mere fishing station. But 
tlie section to which the reader will turn with most zest is that on the fisheries. 
In no other work is the Newfoundland staple trade treated so fully and so well ; 
and these chapters alone would give the volume a lasting value. The physical 
geography of the country is amply described. The ethnology is excellent, and 
the meteorological remarks are useful. It is an admirable book, worthy of soon 
attaining the second edition, which will give the writer an opportunity of still 
further improving it. It is illustrated with some spirited wood-cuts. 

{From the Pall Mall Gazette.) 

An interesting and well- written work Mr. Harvey is eminently 

qualified, by long residence and scientific attainments, for the collection of local 
details and statistics ; and even those who are not personally interested in the 
future of the colony will find much to please and instruct them in his descrip- 
tions of the aborigines, the scenery, the fisheries, and, above all, the gigantic 
cuttle-fish, which he was the first to rescue from the domain of romance and 
introduce into the domain of authentic natural history. 

{From the London Graphic.) 
A volume which is not only very readable, but one to be set aside after read- 
ing as a standard work of reference on the resources of a somewhat neglected 
country. 



FJiUSS NOTICES. 



{From the London Spectator.) 

If the general public will read this interesting book about that despised 

country it will clear up their hazy notions in a very surprising and agreeable 

manner The descriptions are very clear and interesting, and the 

chapters on seal-fishing are among the very best parts of the book 

With these short extracts we will take our leave of a most entertaining and 
useful book, which we hope will iind a great many readers both in England 
and in Newfoundland. 

{From the St. Jameses Gazette.) 

A complete and graphic account of the discovery, at the close of the fifteenth 
century, of what is now the oldest dependency of England; and its history 

and progress are traced through nearly four hundred years The 

Newfoundlanders seem now to be fairly on the high road to that prosperity 
which was so long denied them, and which this interesting book shows that 
they merit. 

{From, Land and Water.) 

The story of Newfoundland constitutes one of the most interesting chapters 
in the history of the New World. It is told so attractively and completely that 
we doubt if it will ever require retelling. It may be supplemented, but not 
superseded. 

{From the European Ifail.) 

No more interesting work has ever come under our notice than this 

We may add that it is highly iuslructive, full of eloquent and graphic descrip- 
tion, and teeming with historical facts and useful statistical information hitherto 
beyond the reach of the general public. There is a handy and useful index, 
and some capital illustrations. 

{From, the London Daily Telegraph.) 
This volume is composed in a very hopeful spirit as to the mture of the 
colony, and is well calculated to interest its readers in a country which pos- 
sesses much natural beauty and great unexplored and undeveloped resources. 

{From the Scotsman.) 
The book is a piece of solid workmanship. It traces not only the history of 
the foundation and progress of the colony, but enters fully into the physical 
geography and topography of Newfoundland, its agricultural, mining, and fish- 
ing resources. 

{From the London Daily News.) 
The work leaves no part of the field unexplored, even the political and finan- 
cial affairs of the island being treated in some detail. Altogether, this is not 
only a work of interest to the general reader, but by far the most complete 
account of Newfoundland that has yet appeared. 

{From the London Standard.) 
The cod-fisheries of Newfoundland are almost worthy of a book to them- 
selves; and when we add to them the seal-hunting, the salmon and caribou and 
ptarmigan, leading us from trade to sport, and showing us the capabilities of 
this great island, we are led into something like enthusiasm about the great and 
unknown estate long held by us The book is one to be recom- 
mended to all readers. 

{From London Society.) 
We can heartily recommend this handsome and exhaustive volume, recently 
published by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. 

{From Figaro.) 
The book has many merits which will commend it to the reading public. It 
is not only free from the cardinal vice of dulness, but is instructive and, in 
many respects, entertaining. 



tb:ess notices. 



{From the Literary World.) 
An exceedingly interesting and valuable book. It is illustrated with photo- 
graphs and sketches made for the work, which give it great interest and value. 

iFrom the London Mining Journal.) 
An interesting and useful volume. 

{From the Birmingham Daily Post.) 
A handsome volume of more than 500 pages, liberally and admirably illus- 
trated, — a remarkably readable work. .... The chapter on the tisheries 
is one of the most valuable and original in the volume. Even more interesting 
is the seal-fishery, of which so little has hitherto been known. These chapters 
alone will make this volume very welcome to all readers, as an original and 
brilliant description of the great fasheries of the world. 

{From the Leeds 3Lercury.) 
The work is eminently readable, the style being easy and the selection of 
material judicious. It is rendered the more attractive by a series of illustra- 
tions. The work, indeed, leaves little to be desired. 

(From, the Nottingham, Guardian.) 
A very valuable contribution to the literature of our oldest colony. The work 
will, we have no doubt, live long. It will be some time before any other 
writers venture to tread in the footsteps of the present writer. 



Opinions of the American and Colonial Press. 

{From the Atlantic Monthly.) 
An interesting work by a painstaking student, who sets about a thorough 
representation of the country. 

{From the New York Herald.) 
The best account of Newfoundland ever printed. 

{From the New York Evening Post.) 
The book is indeed good and interesting, and well- written, but is without the 
smallest bit of imagination or fancy to mislead the reader. It is no Sir John- 
Mandeville's tale of things seen golden-purplish and out of shape through an 
ill-fitted spy-glass. It has in it all the earnestness of conviction and of faith in 
the holding of strong facts. The book does not make the strangeness of the 
story. The book only puts the case to the world of readers in a plain unvar- 
nished way, in good English, and with good sense, and proves it and makes it 
clear by ample testimony and figures. 

{From the Republic, Boston.) 
The historical part of the work has been not only well done, but is highly 
creditable for its broad, liberal, and comprehensive grasp of religious and 
political events, in which the temptations to become partisan have been admira- 
bly avoided. . . . As a book of reference, "Newfoundland " will be found 
simply invaluable. It is profusely and capitally illustrated, elegantly printed, 
and neatly and serviceably bound. 

{From the Wheelman.) 
It is, we must confess, one of the most fascinating histories we ever read. 

{From the Boston Transcript.) 
There is a fine unity in the work ; it reveals no awkward seams, and the whole 
is absorbingly interesting. 



PBESS NOTICES. 



{From the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette.) 
It is the most important work hitherto published ahout Newfoundland, The 
materials have been gathered for the most part on the spot, and every publica- 
tion dealing with the subject has been carefully studied and utilized, together 
with all public records and other documents. 

{From the Boston Post.) 
It is the only thorough, comprehensive, and reliable work upon the great 
island that has ever been published. 

{From the Cincinnati Gazette.) 
It is a complete and very creditable work. 

{From the Boston Pilot.) 
The republication of the book in this country is timely, and we bespeak for it 
a hearty recognition. 

{From the Toronto Globe.) 
It is one of the most valuable additions to the literature of the British colonies 
which has ever appeared. The Rev. Mr. Harvey is a recognized authority on 
all matters connected with Newfoundland. He has resided there for more than 
a quarter of a century, and no man living is more intimately acquainted with its 
history, resources, and possibilities. His letters to the " G-lobe," some years 
ago, will be long remembered. They were a revelation to all classes in the com- 
munity. To most of us he was, in a very real sense, the discoverer of New- 
foundland. The book has already attained well-merited popularity. 

{From the Montreal Gazette.) 
The Rev. M. Harvey, having been for many years our Newfoundland corres- 
pondent, will require but few words of introduction from us. His letters to 
this journal have been admired and enjoyed by hundreds of readers, as well for 
the valuable information of which they were full, as for the clear and systematic 
manner in which the writer dealt with all objects that occupied his attention. 
"We are simply stating the truth when we say, that there is no one living could 
be better fitted by his wide and intimate knowledge of the country, its people, 
and resources, as well as by judgment, taste, and ability as a writer, to con- 
tribute to a work of this kind than he is. . . . The' history is an exceed- 
ingly well-told story. The other sections of the work are of no less interest. 
No one who desires to know the truth about Newfoundland, its capabilities and 
prospects should fail to secure a copy. 

{From the Quebec Morning Chronicle.) 
It is one of the most instructive and interesting books that the press of Eng- 
land has given us for a long time. ... It will do for Newfoundland what 
"Wallace's Russia" has done for that vast empire, and what "Dent's Last 
Forty Years" has done for Canada. Every chapter reveals a monument of 
labour on the part of the author. No pains have been spared, evidently, to 
secure accuracy in every detail. We can cordially commend this valuable book 
to our readers. 

{From the Halifax Morning Chronicle.) 
The whole work is as interesting as a novel, and all who wish to become con- 
versant with " Ye Antient Colonye" of Newfoundland should possess them- 
selves of a copy of this able and instructive work, of which the above is but an 
imperfect and meagre description. 

{From the Newfoundlander.) 
It is no disparagement of the labours of earlier authorities to say that, in point 
of general usefulness at the present day, they are quite surpassed by the volume 
now before us. ... It comes out at a most opportune period ; and all who 
seek to form just opinions of the past, present, and future of the colony should 
possess a volume which is not less inviting-in its external get-up, than in the 
literary impress stamped upon its pages. 



